Lake Constance/Island of Mainau

I am seriously a week behind, in everything, in every way. This can be blamed on many factors, but mostly just that I am losing my superwomanness.  I admit it!

We got back from Lake Constance on Monday of this week, and I am just now getting around to posting our pictures.  I also realized my Mothers Day post didn't post as planned, so now it has, late, but posted!

Eric and I had a "need to escape" week and planned a trip to the beautiful Island of Mainua on Lake Constance. This huge lake borders Germany and Switzerland.  This was a last minute trip decided on Friday afternoon to leave on Saturday.

That is just how we roll sometimes.  Crazy, I know...

So being that Germany seems to be involved in a eternal rain shower this year, it should not shock us that it rained during the trip. But the few spare moments we had sunlight or a break in the rain, it was breathtaking. We also spent a lot of time in the butterfly garden, and got some cool pictures, as you can see below.

We drove to the Island, but we were heading to Garmisch afterwards so our route changed. We had to put the Tahoe on a ship and set across the lake. Pretty hefty price of 15 Euros (about $20 dollars) but shaved about an hour off of our trip.

This is the same boat we were on, they have multiples going back and forth all day

Amazingly, with all the cargo, these boats haul "bootie"!

When you first come into the park, you really are blown away by the beauty of nature! For some reason, I could not get Eric or the boys to pose in front of this giant flower?  Even Avery seems to have the look of "hurry up, before someone see's me", it sucks my kids are getting old!

We then carried on thru the park to the butterfly gardens. It is really just nature galore up to this point. So pretty....

Yes, this butterfly was really this big!

I love this photo, check out his eye, he was looking at me!

Zachary is really getting into photography, and he has his own style and a great eye. I offered up maybe being a National Geographic Photographer?

Eric thought he might pass out in here, it was so hot, and honestly, we did all leave looking like we had poodle perms. As Eric has the straightest/finest/yet volumistic hair on earth, and it reacts to humidity by sticking straight up off his head and my straight hair curls, I imagine we looked like dorks.  I am sure we were a sight to see coming out of the sauna butterfly garden.

Avery attempted the circle count to see how old this baby was.

Just breath taking, even with the clouds looming

I was on my hands and knees trying to get how beautiful it was, it really didn't capture how pretty this view was.

I requested one of these in our background, Eric said he would get back to me:)

Nicky really is taller than Avery, but in this picture he looks like a pretty little guy.  See Avery's hand, it was gravel that they were pelting at each other. Nothing like standing out as Americans!

Ok, a private joke, but Zachary and Eric always seem to fall into this GQ stance, this is what he is laughing about.

We had a long talk about the inner flower at this point, Avery just learned about this again in 4th grade Science.

Love this picture of Zachary, he has always been a thinker.

Nicky, conjuring up what he can throw in the water next.

This pic is overexposed, but I love Avery's expression. She enjoyed the flowers as much as I did and ran up to them saying "take a picture of this one"

Just thinkin...about what we can throw off this huge cliff?  We have to seriously watch these two, at one point Eric caught them hanging off a tree in the park. I am the mother of monkeys.

It was starting to rain as we took this picture!

I didn't want to overload this page with nature shots, so I have created a page dedicated just to the nature photos here, they truly are spectacular if I must say so myself:)  Although, I did hear a grumble walking around the park from Eric "how many pictures of flowers can we have", I ensured him they were for a very important project, that I might do someday! Click here to see the page! Nature Photos

We intend to go back to the Lake Constance and stay at a hotel around the lake. There are so many little towns that border the lake, each with a history of its own. I imagine we will be going back two or three times more. This was our first trip there, and we mainly focused on the Island of Mainau, because it was a good day trip and easily planned for our on a whim planning.

If your interested in learning more, you can read about the Island of Mainau here.