After driving and seeing a lot the previous day we had a pretty laid back day planned for the next one.
By we, I mean me.
Nick basically just goes where I say on trips. Ha
We headed up North again but not as far.
We basically stopped at all the tourist shops and went on one hike at Cascade River State Park.
I was pretty much done with steps after that.
There are so many amazing waterfalls along the north shore but that means a LOT of stairs…
So after several days of stairs I decided to take it easy on my back and to avoid anymore stairs which meant no more waterfalls.
The town of Grand Marais is such a cute little town right on the water.
We stopped at the Lake Superior Trading Post there and then headed back south with no idea what we were going to do next.
We stopped at rest area on our way back south and ended up at a great beach to look for rocks.
Cut Face Creek Wayside Rest 
The kids went crazy looking for rocks and we ended up picking up a book on agates to learn more.
Because you know I can’t pass up on a good educational opportunity…
Only our oldest had really shown an interest in rocks before that so I thought he would be the only one really excited but all the kids liked it.
We also ended up stopping at Beaver Bay Agate Shop and I highly recommend it if you have a rock collector and are in the area.
They had some of the most beautiful rocks and even had a little museum!
Someone in a state park visitor center told us about it and I am so glad we went!
Sometimes my girls propensity to strike up conversations with complete strangers pays off!
This was our last day on the north shore, we headed back south west to Nick’s parents the next day!
I know the winters are brutal up there but every time we go I struggle with leaving.
Such a beautiful area!
That night there was a possible Aurora Borealis so I went out and watched for it.
His parents and some of the kids came out for a bit also.
Nick’s dad went also with all his brothers kids and we accidently went to opposite sides of the event.
Thankfully we finally figured it out!
I can’t really blame them, everything is better with cousins.
There are so many things to see and do there!
The twins have some pretty bad allergies so one of them figured out right away being anywhere near the threshing was a bad idea!
We ended the event by swapping some kids and then when we got to our opposite sides remembering that our oldest had our keys…
But having extra help around was priceless!
I tried to not run around all day but at least have something fun everyday.
The kids also enjoyed getting to spend a lot of time with cousins!
They educate the kids on what to do and why and let them catch them for them to tag!
9 kids all with giant nets was a bit chaotic but we survived and most caught one.
Most left pretty fast so it was hard to get a picture but some stayed a long time!