Livi and Zach taking a little break from playing.

They look so precious.

Maddie: getting all gussied up in Livi's shoes

Look at my pretty shoes! Oh, wait, I'm thirsty!

Our girls

Daddy reading a story to Livi and Zach. Zach lost interest somewhere around page 2.

Ta-da! Livi was so proud of her castle!

Close-up of Livi's castle - impressive

Dunning's Spring

I met up with one of my best friends from high school the other day. She lives in Idaho now and hadn't been to town for quite a long time, and I hadn't been to some of these Decorah places in ages, so we decided to check out the places. First we went to The Cut, which is actually a big drainage culvert, but we always liked walking in there. So as we went down the steep incline and proceeded to walk reeeeaaaallllyyyy slowly (we didn't want to fall and break a hip ;-) , well, we were reminded that we just aren't 17 years old anymore. There were a couple of high school kids there practically running laps around us as we only walked part way once. But we had a great time! After that we headed to the Whippy Dip for a little bit of the best ice cream in Iowa. Then decided to head to Dunning's Spring. It's one of my favorite places - I just love going there. We were the only ones there, so we got to enjoy the quiet and take in all the quiet and peaceful surroundings:

Tara dipping her toes in. We just had to find out first-hand if the water was still as cold as when we were in high school. Yep, still cold!

Before the park service put up barriers to get in the water, we used to crawl into this area: over rocks and then back towards the cave area. It was loud from the rushing water, but so relaxing and peaceful.

A view of Dunning's from the trail up above.

The woods area by Dunning's - I remember when I took this I thought: Oh how beautiful! I really don't think the camera quite captured what I saw.

Tara and I didn't stay at Dunning's for long, but it's the only place that we took any pictures. We spent the whole day and half the night together, just talking and catching up and laughing and crying and reminiscing. Oh, it was great! I can't wait to see her again!!!