Mission San Juan Bautista

This is the final post from our mini vacation last month.  You can read about Mission San Jose, the Dennis the Menace playground, Mission Carmel, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium to catch up.

I took the kids to Mission San Juan Bautista nine years ago, after a trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium, so Jack and I had been there before.  Jack, however, was only 4 at the time, so it was pretty much all new to him.

Upon entering the gift shop to pay our fee, we were told that there was a funeral service that day, so we would not be able to see the main church until after it was over, but to explore the rest of the mission and then we'd have access to the church and cemetery.

At the prior 2 missions, I'd shown the kids rosaries, so in the gift shop, I asked, "Can anyone tell me what these pretty beads are called?"  Katie burst out, "ROSEMARY!"  A docent snorted.

The music books were massive.

Hey look!  Another cauldron, like the one at Mission San Jose.

We had fun wandering around looking at all the artifacts.

This totally reminded me of my grandparents' house.  They had an organ with the knobs like this, and they had an octogon clock like that, too.

This mission must have been very beautiful in it's day.

It even had a sewing machine!

Liturgical vestments.

There's such an amazing sense of history in these old missions.  I'm so glad I got the opportunity to expose the kids to them.

Then we went out in the garden.

The kids discovered a sundial, which was an impromptu science lesson, of course.

The photos behind the statue give information about each of the different missions in California.

Again, I took advantage of the pretty scenery to take pictures of my beautiful children.

One of whom was a little pictured-out.

The former well.

Mission San Juan Bautista is on the San Andreas Fault, but we did not see the seismograph that was there the last time I was there, so that was a little disappointing.

After exploring the inside of the quadrangle, we ventured out, staying a respectful distance from the church, which was still in use.

The views were breathtaking, and the weather was perfect.  You know, people complain about California, but I love it here.

In preparation for out trip to Mission San Diego in April, we read Mystery on the California Mission Trail, which talked a lot about the mission bells, so it was fun to see more mission bells. 

The doorway there is an auxiliary exit from the cemetery, but it's padlocked.  Guests enter and exit the cemetery through the main church.  So we couldn't visit the cemetery while we were waiting for the funeral to be over. 

We took a little stroll, instead. 

We saw lots of beautiful flowers, and enjoyed the tranquility. 

The really disappointing part is that after the church emptied out and we saw the hearse leave, they locked up the whole mission and left an "out to lunch" sign.  Since we were on our way home with a 3 hour drive ahead of us, I really didn't want to wait another hour to see the church and cemetery, so we left.  But I was pretty bummed. 

On our way out of town, we stopped to get gas, and saw the hearse at the local cemetery. 

This was a fun trip, and has left me with a bit of wanderlust.  Although I miss the baby days, traveling with older kids is really easy, and I'd like to do some more exploring with them, as they have days off from school. 


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Our Very Busy Week

I still have one more vacation post, but it just hasn't happened yet. 

I recently received some Color Garden food coloring to try out, so I thought birthday cupcakes would be a fun use for some of it.

They looked nice and sunny.  Unfortunately, we had a little disaster with them in the van, and I ended up buying store bought cupcakes and driving them out to the school for Katie's class after I dropped the kids off.  Not sure where that falls on the mothering scale.  On the one hand, I made cupcakes for her class.  On the other hand, the cupcakes she actually passed out where store bought.  Good intentions, lousy execution.

The rest of the batch met with approval, though.

Paul made Katie's birthday cake.

Seven!  Can you believe it?  She was still 2 when she joined our family.

It took her several tries to blow out the candle.

But she got it eventually!

Last year's Hello Kitty birthday shirt still fit her, so she wore that to school.

She got new books, including a couple Hello Kitty ones and a Grace Lin chapter book that Hannah immediately offered to pre-read for her.  Such a helpful sister.  Hannah loves to read, and usually plows through whatever we bring home from the library in just a couple days.

She also got her very own box of almond cookies, which she very sweetly has been sharing with Jack and Hannah, parceling them out into the lunch boxes every day.

Pictures are back!  The tie is just as cringey as I feared, but at least Jack's expression is okay.  I really ought to have scanned them all before Eli put them up on the wall, but that didn't happen.

Homecoming shopping, round 1.  He's lingering in the "no pictures" phase longer than I would like.

Our little friends were here with us for several days.  We played on the school playground while waiting for the kids to get out.

Eli wanted a more detailed haircut than the "buzz it all off" that I provide, so Brianna gave it a go, and it turned out well.

This was appointment week.  It just sort of worked out that way.  Fortunately, the younger kids had "home study days" for 3 days this week, while the teachers were at a conference in Ventura.

The first appointment was Hannah seeing the eye doctor.

It had been over a year, and we'd noticed her squinting more, so I called in July, thinking I'd get her in before school started.  No such luck, they book out so far in advance.  She will be getting new glasses with a significant change in prescription.

The next appointment was Hannah and Katie's regular dental check up.  Jack and I took these guys next door to Hobby Lobby, and the candy corn shirt idea was born while we were there and the girls were having their teeth cleaned.

I originally made these Hello Kitty nightgowns for Katie, and not only has she outgrown them, I think this will be the last time our little guests use them, too.  At least without shorts underneath.  They've gotten pretty short.  We enjoy a little Dora on the computer after bath time while I'm combing out their wet hair.  I didn't think it was affecting me until Sunday's sermon when the pastor said, "Believe, repent, baptized," and I leaned over and whispered to Paul, "Dora format!"

Hannah and Katie were casted at Shriners this week for their new legs.  We go back in 2 weeks to do a socket test fit.


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