No, David!

That is the title of one of the boys' favorite books. "No, David!" by David Shannon is about a little boy who does a lot of naughty things. One of those naughty things is jumping on the bed while wearing red cowboy boots and a blanket like a cape.

It just happens that David John has recently come into possession of some red cowboy boots because red is his favorite color. When he was reading the book a few days ago, he wanted to recreate the jumping on the bed scene. Of course, I agreed to take pictures of him doing it. It was just too cute.

Have you ever seen such joy? Unfortunately this mother-approved fun planted an idea in his little brain that he should recreate EVERY picture from the book. There are some things in that book that are definitely NOT mother-approved. How do I know what he was planning, you ask? I heard him flipping through the book and naming each activity and whether or not he had done it yet.

"Showing everyone food in my mouth, accomplished."

"Flooding the bathtub, not accomplished."

"Pick my nose, accomplished."

"Make a mess with my toys, accomplished."

"Play baseball in the house, not accomplished."

"Run outside with no clothes on, not accomplished."

When I heard him stating those last two, I sent Marc to intervene. The funny thing is, he HAS accomplished everything in that book at one time in his life he just hadn't done it on that particular day. Thankfully, Marc was able to talk him down so we didn't have to yell, "No David!"

Merely Meersburg

Schloss Meersburg was the last official touristy place I visited in Germany. This place was seriously cool. Of all the places I went on my trip, I wish I could have shown the boys this place.

I mean, firstly, it was built in the 7th century. Secondly, it was built by a guy named Dagobert. Dagobert! I thought that was a name they made up for children's books.

This castle was legit. Back in the day, it had a working portcullis and everything. This is the giant pulley that they used to raise and lower it.

There were cool wall paintings, obviously not from the 7th century, but still pretty old and awesome.

This is the ancient dining hall. It was huge! Also, there were a lot of dead things hanging on the walls. That moose in the very back? I don't know what century he's from but he was looking pretty bad. Most really old things, even ruins, look really cool. Taxidermy on the other hand, does not improve with age.

I loved this castle well. It has Christ hanging over it because He is the living water. Pretty cool.

Other gothic religious imagery could be seen on the walls and in niches. So beautiful.

This place was built to last. The walls were three meters thick, thinning to two meters in the tower.

Speaking of the tower, the views from the top were just gorgeous.

Of course, the tower is not what the boys are interested in. They would probably love the scary torture instruments and the dungeon. Apparently, they would throw prisoners down there and sometimes they might forget to feed them. Silly medieval people.

The suits of armor and weaponry were mostly from the 15th century but still so awesome.

I have to admit it, I was geeking out over this castle. Meersburg, you rock... and not just because you are made of rocks.

32

I am feeling the love today for my birthday. My boys made me a lovely necklace and crown and some birthday signs. They told me that I'm the queen today. Thanks guys.

I think I'm going to make it a tradition to get a birthday t-shirt. I'm loving my yellow Okey Dokey Artichokey shirt.

I was surprised by the delivery of these gorgeous flowers from Marc today. Good job honey, I smile every time I look at them.

The flowers are especially appreciated because Marc is on call today and we decided that we would do birthday stuff tomorrow so I wasn't expecting anything.

32 feels okay. I'm not as freaked out as I was when I turned 30 or even 31. I guess I'm starting to feel comfortable with being "in my thirties". After all, I've got five cute boys, a handsome husband and a home in North Dakota that I love. The thirties are all right.

Skulptur

Germany wasn't just full of beautiful things, but also some things that were a little odd. The various sculptures perched on top of buildings or lurking under benches just cracked me up. Not all of them were intentionally funny, but when I imagined what some of those very serious statues were saying they were funny too. Really witty those guys.

"Curses. I hate it when my hand comes off with my glove."

"It matters not that my sword has no blade when my beard is so beautifully groomed."

Those creepy little guys (are they gnomes?) surprised me when I was sitting on this bench.

Good thing I wasn't wearing a skirt.

"Hey! Where do think you're going? I am not holding this thing up by myself."

I'm not sure if these cherubs are wrestling the eagle to the ground or just engaging in a group hug. Either way, it's kind of awesome.

For some reason this guy reminded me of the wish dragon on Neverending Story. I think he's supposed to look fierce but he just looks like he wants to tell you a long, boring, um, you know, story.

These four look like they each got a Christmas gift. Three of them seem pensive, like they are admiring what they are holding but this poor guy on the right is like, "Seriously? A doll house?"

I didn't get this one at first, probably because I was distracted by the idea that those huge fingers might grab my foot and trip me. I found it ironic that the threatening digits turned out to be making the sign for peace.

"My squirrel-tiger hybrid is totally going to outrun your squirrel-tiger hybrid in our squirrel-tiger surfing race."

I don't think this spitting dogfish is saying anything, but he's cute and funny anyway.

I took this picture mostly for the boys. But really, who can resist a spitting Grandma and a baby driving a car? Tobias wishes he was that baby. And I bet the boys wish their grandmas could spit that far. Are you reading this Grandma? Oma? You've got some work to do.

Kirche

While in Germany I was overwhelmed by the number of old and beautiful churches. They were everywhere! Most of them I only saw from the outside, but we went into a few. I am embarrassed to say that sometimes inside those majestic buildings I thought about Nightcrawler from the second X-men movie. Hey, I was in a church at night and people were speaking German. It was perfectly logical, just nerdy. Anyway, I wanted to share some of my favorite Kirche pictures.

This is the first church I saw in downtown Stuttgart. I loved the cool tower, but I also wanted to share this picture because of the crane in the background. Yeah, see that yellow crane to the right of the church? Apparently cranes are "thing" in Germany. Every single construction site had a crane on it. I mean, they could be digging a ditch, and there would be a crane on site. It was insane. I have never seen so many cranes in my life. I even brought home a toy crane for my boys, it was that much a part of my experience. I think someone needs to check into the lobbyist groups for the German government. I'm betting that the crane industry is wielding a little too much power. You can't even get a permit to paint your house without one of those babies.

These next two pictures of church details are from another church in Stuttgart. I loved all of the carvings and statuary.

In Munich we passed by an old church with markers for those who were buried in the foundation. They ranged from very simple to extravagant. The marker with the skull was especially cool.

So, we ended up in Munich on a Sunday which was not our original plan but, as I mentioned before, Germany was determined to foil any plans we made. Anyway, we had spent most of the day doing things that were not necessarily very "churchy" like eating at the Hard Rock Cafe. So, I was so happy when we stumbled upon the most amazing religious artistic installation.

It was in a 14th century church known as the Holy Ghost Church or Heiliggeistkirche.

The church alone was stunning, but add 2000 origami doves suspended from the ceiling and it became something magical.

In addition to the doves, the installation had fog, lighting and sound effects which gave the church and otherworldly feel.

Sounds of flapping wings, church bells, people praying and gentle music floated in the background.

It was very peaceful there, everyone who entered was reverent.

The changing lighting made the doves alternately beings of light or shadow.

As we walked around the church, we noticed that on every painting in the church the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove was spotlighted.

It felt right to reflect on spiritual things on a Sunday evening in such a beautiful atmosphere and I really enjoyed the symbolic nature of the installation.

While not as flashy as the previous churches, this one was the oldest church we visited. It was in a small town near the Bodensee and boasts some of the oldest preserved wall murals. The church dates back to the 10th century. Obviously, it has been restored a bit. We were crushed that we missed the last tour of the day thanks to the very old man driving in front of us for miles and miles. At least there was a visitor's center with beautiful photographs of the murals and also ultra violet exposures of the murals which reveal additional details that have faded from the visible spectrum.

Finally, this is the last church I saw on my trip in the town of Constance on the Bodensee. I snapped a picture of this gem as we were walking back to the car for the long drive home. Good night, Kirche.