Sunday

California Missions Are Awesome!

Hey Everyone!

I had such a busy weekend. Mrs. Juli has been doing more laundry than I have ever seen in my life! In her guest bedrooms, she probably has thirty pillows and she washed and dried and decorated with all of her pillow cases and then I helped her clean all of the bed linens in the guest bedrooms for Mrs. Jane's arrival. Mrs. Jane is coming early Saturday morning with her best friend, Mrs. Elaine. Mrs. Elaine has known Mrs. Juli since before she was born! We are so excited about them coming and we have so many wonderful surprises planned!

This weekend, we went to San Juan Bautista and I got a neat lesson on the California missions. In the 1700s, Spanish settlers tried to spread Christianity to Native Americans by building missions. All of the California missions are spaced within one day's horse ride from each other and many people come to California to tour the mission trails. Lucky for me, Mrs. Juli lives very near the largest California mission in San Juan Bautista (named for "John the Baptist'). The reason that this mission is the largest is because it was built on the San Andreas Fault and was almost destroyed in a very large earthquake so when they re-built it, they made it larger than any other California mission.


This is the mission and a statue on the San Andreas Fault:
This is the smallest jail that I have ever seen! Can you imagine being put behind bars in the 1800's and people coming to look at you through that door?

This shows how close San Juan Bautista is to Hollister on the San Andreas Fault map:


This mission was founded in 1797! That is a long, long time ago!

Below, is a picture of the inside of the chapel:

I have been reading so much about the California missions.


http://www.californiamissions.com/cahistory/background.html


http://missions.bgmm.com/bautista.htm


There are a total of twenty-one California missions:

You can see how they are within a day's horse ride from each other.

I wish that I could see all of the missions in California.

Soon, I will get to see the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco! I can't wait!

I hope that you had a fun time with grandmama and grandaddy this weekend.

Love,

Flat Stanley

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Stanley. It looks and sounds like you have been busy. That was a lot of laundry. I do not think Mommy does that much laundry for us in one week. I can not believe it is almost time for Mrs. Jane to come visit and bring you home. I know you are looking forward to some great adventures when she gets there. I am sure Mrs. Juli is looking forward to seeing her Mommy also.

I was amazed by how many missions there are in California. They would be interesting to visit. I am glad you are getting some school work in!! :)!

I went to the fair last night with my Uncle Rusty, Aunt Joy and cousin McKenna. I did not get home until an hour past my bed time. We had fun. My favorite part besides the rides was the cake decorating contest. There was a standing Cocky cake. It was really cool. And of course we ate fair food and brought back candy apples for the boys. They did not want to go to the fair.

Tell Mrs. Juli and Mr. Michael hello.

Your Friend, Hannah

Flat Stanley said...

Hi Hannah!

It sounds like you had fun at the fair! I wish I could see a picture of the standing cocky cake! Was it a gamecock cake?

That was so nice that you brought back candied apples for Zac and Garrett. You are so thoughtful.

Mrs. Juli misses the South Carolina State Fair, she says it is the best.

We are counting down the days until Mrs. Juli's mommy comes to visit. We are so excited!

I hope you have a good week at school and tell everyone "hello!".

Love,

Flat Stanley