Well, it is only 1 1/2 months late, but I finally got Katie's pictures taken for her 7th birthday. We went over to our friend's house (Brad & Kari, who used to live on the farm where we took our family pictures...they have now moved in to Bettendorf) to spend some time with them and so Kari could get some pictures of Katie outside. I think that we picked the hottest, most humid day...but Kari was able to get some great pics of Katie quickly so it wasn't too bad! Katie - we love you & are so blessed to have you in our lives. God has given you a beautiful spirit and a beautiful smile!
We headed north to Freeport and got some lunch, then on to Krape Park. The kids loved the huge wooden playground. After playing for a bit, we headed over to the carousel. The twins actually did good on the ride this year. They weren't sure at first, esp. Will...but once it started, I slowly removed my hand from their backs and they were smiling and laughing by the end.
As soon as we got off of the carousel, we noticed that it was pouring down! How did we miss that?? We ran for shelter and played on this old firetruck (notice how wet Maddie is!). 
We decided it would be best to head to Union Dairy for the traditional ice cream treat. To say that the kids were excited about this stop would be an understatement! Union Dairy is an old fashioned style ice cream/soda shop. The kids love looking at all of the ice cream flavors! They all chose the lovely blue "play dough" ice cream. It must have been good, all was eaten!
Next to Union Dairy is the Lincoln / Douglas Debate Square. Freeport has done a great job of making this square beautiful and a good history lesson!
We ended our day finding 3 boxes by River Rat: Where the Buffalo Roam, Lake La-Aqua-Na boxes #3 & #4 (we were finally able to finish this series after 2 years!). We ran out of time to look for Hiker Babe's boxes in the same park - Next year! 
