Everybody had the Monday after Easter off, so we decided to work off some of our Easter treats and go for a walk around the local lake. It was a beautiful day for a walk, 
no rain, lots of cloud cover, and hardly any people. I had brought some bread and the kids had a great time feeding the ducks and other water fowl.
When we were close to the spot where Sarah got baptized Sophie found this cool shell lying on the path.
She picked it up as a cool memento of the day. But Chris was worried it might have germs or something? Because he made her throw it into the water. She was very sad, and so were the rest of us. So we voiced our displeasure until he relented and got it back out for us.
The kids were in a rare adventurous mood that I wanted to encourage. So when Noah climbed up on the hill above us, I told him to follow us from up there.
His trail blazing inspired Nick and Sophie as well. And they followed him up and across, and then back down the hill and across the little stream to rejoin us.
This entire family of ducks was swimming in the reeds. We could hear the babies, but couldn’t see them, they were too well hidden. We made sure the parents got lots of bread, since they were probably worn out from taking care of their little ones. 🙂
In several spots we were overwhelmed by the smell of Bärlauch growing wild. The literal translation is bear garlic, and it definitely has an odor true to its name. Apparently, back when bears roamed around Europe, this plant was one of the first things they gorged on upon waking from their winter sleep. Now we humans get to enjoy its awesomeness.
I must confess to never having cooked with it before, mainly because I have never been out in the forest when it was in season. So, I decided to pick a big handful and look up recipes when we got back.
This patch was perfect, since it was so far off the beaten path. You see, we decided to follow the boys back to the car and it ended up being quite the adventure. It all started off fine.
We went up the stairs that eventually lead back to the elementary school.Only instead of turning right towards that trail, we headed left. It was great, at first. The trail was obviously not well used, but still wide and friendly looking. Gradually it got smaller and smaller until we were stepping over and through large bushes and trying desperately not to whack Alexandra in the face with any stray branches. At this point, the boys were nowhere in sight. We knew they hadn’t turned back, because we would have seen them. So the only thing to do was soldier on in the hopes of reuniting with them somewhere, preferably not in some farmer’s back yard. 🙂
After quite a while, the trees thinned out enough that we could make out the real trail down below us. This was quite encouraging; at least we were headed in the right direction! We kept on until we found a “path” down the hill, only it was very muddy and rather steep. Especially for little ones. And scared, chicken Mamas.
Chris went first so he could catch, or at least stop the forward momentum, of everyone else. The girls helpfully discovered that if you ran down it kind of fast, it was actually better. But telling my head was one thing. Getting my feet to actually do it, was quite another. I even considered just sliding down on my rear. I mean, it worked that one time I went skiing and accidentally got on the wrong trail and ended up facing a huge patch of moguls. (No, I have no shame.) But it was really, really, REALLY muddy, so I just half closed my eyes and went for it. Whew! I made it down safe and sound, as did all the little girls.
Although Sophie did accidentally sit down at one point! 🙂
Now that we were safely back on the real path, there was time for more photo taking and lots of flower picking. No, we still hadn’t seen or heard any sign of the boys yet.
When we got back to the car, we found the boys waiting for us. They got a slight talking to, since the rule is to always stay in sight of us. But we were relieved they weren’t lost in the woods. They had apparently bypassed our muddy alpine slide, and just continued on through the fields up above the lake.
It was a wonderful outing, with a wonderful ending. This is what I ended up making for lunch with the freshly picked Bärlauch. Delicious!