San Juan Capistrano

8.29.16

Mission San Juan Capistrano

It was impossible not to take too many photos at the Mission at San Juan Capistrano.  What a beautiful place! And rich with history. It was fascinating to see the ruins of The Great Stone Church, which was built from 1797-1806 and was destroyed by an earthquake in 1812.

Tim loves harmony and requests this song whenever we're somewhere with great acoustics...

(Make sure your volume is turned up... it's pretty quiet.)

Jadan is pointing out the shells, fossils, and minerals in the wall... Cool!

While Tim, Jen, and Brie were inspired to take way too many photos,

Jadan and Ellie were inspired to feed the koi!

Ok, maybe here they do seem tall....  ;)

It was fascinating to learn how Spanish colonization was different from British colonization, to actually experience this mission founded by Junipero Serra in 1776, to learn how Mexican independence and then the United States acquisition of California after the Mexican American War affected the mission and those who lived there, and to discover that Lincoln played a very significant role in the life of this mission just a month before he died.   We heard people's stories about going to school and to church at the mission, and learned about the bells and the messages they broadcast to the community.

And then there's the legend of the return of the swallows.  :)

Brie has been enjoying getting to know St. John O'Sullivan, and hopefully she'll eventually share some of what she's learning with us on "Brie's Board."  (She just figured out today how to add those tabs on the blog... We're so excited!  Between actually having all of these adventures and figuring out blogging details, we're pretty behind in documenting, but we should catch up this week!)

It was a long day of exploring and reading signs and taking photos (a little too long for some), but they still agreed to let mom have just one more photo session... Aren't they darling?  OK, Jadan, maybe not darling... but you're lookin' good.  ;)