The Flower Island begins our next big adventure.

Yes, we are on yet another trip!  They seem to be endless, but we are moving soon and...I can't stop trying to squeeze in more trips.  I like to blame my husband who is the instigator of most of our trips, but really I've caught the wanderlust bug too.  So badly.  Brian was just saying today how I seem to be enjoying this time in Europe so much more than the last time we lived here.  And, well, yes I am.  Last time we were here in Germany, I arrived with two little ones under age 3 and soon was pregnant with number three.  About four months after I had Isaac, Brian deployed and was gone for a year.  When he returned we had a mere 6 months before we were over the Atlantic on our way back to the states.  I had no one to carry things or help me around the house or help with the youngest.

This time is so different.  Yes, I do have a lot of children, as nearly every person who packs up my groceries and loads them into my 12 passenger van likes to point out, but six is sometimes easier than three.  I have three capable extra sets of hands to help me this time with those three littlest ones and with the dishes and the laundry, etc.  And although I don't HAVE time, I guess I have learned to make time to stop and enjoy the scenery and to take advantage of the opportunities that are available to us while we live in Europe.

As I've been making appointments and lists for our impending move, I've even begun to say, "Hey, we didn't ever make it to the (fill in the blank).  Maybe we can go on that one Saturday that is left open on our calendar still."  It used to just be Brian saying that, but now I am guilty of over-scheduling us as well.

Today we drove down to the Bodensee, also known as Lake Constance (a lake that borders Austria, Germany, and Switzerland) to visit Mainau which is an entire island park dedicated to flowers.  They have greenhouses, flower fields with designs in them, and a staircase waterfall with flowers all intermingled as well as a butterfly garden, a palace, and a petting zoo.  The island is breathtaking itself, but add in the views across the lake and it just knocks your socks off.

After buying your tickets you walk across a foot bridge and at the front of the island (unless you come by ferry) there is a playground that is to die for.  Really the coolest thing ever!  It had wooden rafts and poles on a shallow "pond" and the children could just hop on and push them selves over to the other side.  I truly could not even describe some of the other things there and do them justice.  I just know that as a kid, I would have loved it.  Our kids loved it and would've been content to play there all day.  Lucky for them we didn't let them or they would have missed out on the most amazing butterfly house ever.

I've been to a couple butterfly houses with the children before, and there is always a briefing given explaining the rules and how to protect the butterflies, yada yada.  Plus, there is always a double door system and some kind of checking for any rogue butterflies that may have landed on you trying to hitch a ride out of that joint.  And on top of all that they had a maximum number of people they allowed in at any given time.  I know that Germans are not so big on regulations, but more into personal responsibility.  However, I also know they are big into their animals and wildlife, like more than they are into human life at times.  So I still expected the same sort of rigmarole here, but I was surprised to find that they  had no number control, no rules or employees watching to make sure you follow the rules, and only a chain mail type of push through entryway.  It was kind of freeing.

There was a sort of one way figure eight path to keep the traffic flowing.  Butterflies were everywhere in this large green house and plates with fresh fruit were scattered throughout drawing butterflies in packs.  The ponds were stocked with fish and turtles.  There was a cage with a couple of parrots as well.  We saw some butterflies land on some other people and Genevieve and Isaac both really wanted a butterfly to land on them.  Both got their wish, and Genevieve's butterfly who we named Smitty (as a nod to the German word for butterfly, Smetterling, and to our last name) landed on her nose and stayed there for at least five minutes as we all continued walking through the house.  It was tasting her with it's little proboscis all the while.  She was quite the spectacle walking around with a butterfly on the end of her nose.  One also landed on Brian, but not long enough to get a nickname.

Since I am posting this so very late, I am adding this picture that Genevieve drew for me for Mother's Day.  She's so sweet!  I love when my kids draw!

There were a tremendous amount of tiny bugs swarming around the island which did not make Hannah happy.  Although she seemed to enjoy watching the butterflies, she was afraid one would land on her which hampered her fun.  The playground was too young for her, I guess so she followed Bobby around some of the time.  And the petting zoo is just not her thing.  Who knew a veterinarian's daughter could be so not into animals?  She did appear to have fun playing in the stream that came from the staircase waterfall.

Well, I found out where Germany's been hiding all their children.  On Mainau!  Plus, I counted at least ten pregnant women which I also don't typically see.  Good to know they are somewhere; I was starting to wonder.

On our way around the lake to our apartment, we stopped at the  Birnau Basilica.  I had already been there, but none of the rest of the family had.  There are no pictures allowed inside, but you can see some of it's brilliant Baroque style here.  My favorite part is the three dimensional stations of the cross, particularly "Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus."

Then we stopped in Meersberg for dinner and ice cream.  It was a late night with getting all the kids a shower at the apartment that we stayed in, just across the Austrian border.  It was just beautiful scenery all around this house.