Hi D....my husband and I, w/ our kids are fellow campers! Welcome to the area. Rock Cut (as mentioned) is a nice state park and offers many activities, such as hiking trails, biking trails, many picnic areas, kayaking or canoeing and it is well kept. I will mention that our last trip there a few weeks ago was not so fun though. My husband got a ticket going into the park (it is a hill and he hadn't slowed down as much as he should have.) Also, being a state park, there is no alcohol, and they do check. One thing we observed while there that really bothered us, was as we were sitting at our camp site, we saw a ranger go into another camp site (campers were gone) and look around the whole site, not touching, but looking through all of their stuf. That bothered me a lot! And their prices have been raised. One place that is our favorite is out in Shirland (about 10 miles outside of Rockton.) It is called Sugar River Forest Preserve. There are only about 100 sites and they are huge! It is close to the river, so you could fish and the people who run it are always so pleasant and nice. It is also cheaper than Rock Cut, but it is more relaxing in there isn't as much to do. Good luck and hopefully you will find a fun place to try out!!! (There are lots of other places w/in an hour of Rockford, but my husband and I have yet to try them!! Too busy!)
Noelle