Yesterday the kids, Maya, and I took a trip to Interstate State Park for some hiking. The hiking trails at this park were amazing! You're pretty much walking along the rocks that were stripped when the St. Croix River was formed and it made for uneven terrain, stairs, and a bit of climbing which was really entertaining for the kids. Our first break, overlooking the St. Croix River.

We need to refuel after that initial climb. (Yes, the water was really that mucky brown but to be fair the river is currently flooded; the southern half of the park is currently underwater and inaccessible.)

One of the big appeals of this park are the natural potholes that were made when the glacier came through and the waters started reshaping the river valley. The kids? They had fun poking sticks into the potholes!

Don't worry they couldn't hurt these holes, and they were surprisingly deep! There is no good way to show that so you'll just have to take my word on it.

Do you see these stairs? Almost all of the stairs were created with rocks. This park has a lot of work put into it. This is the first time I took the kids for a hike that I wasn't annoyed with how slow they were moving. They were so excited to see what was coming next it kept them moving along!

We took another trail so we could check out the view upriver and see the dam. I wasn't aware, but St. Croix Falls, WI was actually named after a waterfall that used to be upriver but has since been flooded by the dam.

Max and Rory were a bit nervous up here as it was really high up and the rock ledge was steep. They did great though and there are some man made stairs to get you up to the top ledge so it wasn't as uneven as most of the rock stairs we encountered on the trails.

On our way back down Rory asked Max to catch her. You guys? Does your heart hurt as much as mine does looking at this?! He's such a good brother. And Rory stated that about 15 times for the rest of the way down.

We also had to stop to check out this little pond. This is the spot where I desperately wished I remembered exactly what poison ivy looked like because there was a patch of three leaved plants that I was pretty positive were not poison ivy but couldn't shake the fear my kids were infected. (No, they do not have a rash today.)

After all that hiking it was time to get our picnic lunch from the car and find a nice sunny spot to eat. Everyone pitched in to help.

GG gave us this picnic basket, isn't it just perfect?

And Maya was so exhausted she just lounged next to us which meant I didn't have to attempt to eat while holding on to her. I'm very thankful for that little reprieve.

After lunch we did a little wrestling with the Rock-em Sock-em finger Robots. We found these in a free box at a neighbor's garage sale. Seriously awesome!

After our lunch we visited the Visitor's Center, walked along another trail that had an audio tour you used by calling into it with your cell phone (awesome idea), and then we packed up for the trip home. We didn't go all the way home though, we ended up making a detour, but since this post is so long and photo heavy I'm going to save the second visit for tomorrow. Stay tuned!