Sunday Morning Wanderings

Sunday mornings are sometimes . . . difficult with my squirrely children. Church doesn't start until 2:30. In an effort to keep the Sabbath day holy, we have started exploring local parks where we take a walk, and get some of the energy out of the kids.

We've noticed not too far from our house is a San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. We had no idea what that meant, but figured it had something to do with the Catholic Missions that were once very prevalent in San Antonio.

So, the mission that we pulled up to is called Mission San Francisco de la Espada. It was started in 1731. If you want some more history, here's a wikipedia article. But I was quite impressed. Joe and I both love history and learning about new places, so we were excited to find a place rich with history.

Here we are, at the entrance to the Mission.

This is a church where mass is still held by Franciscan monks! We were there when mass was going on, so we got to see some of the monks.

Me and the squirmy Elliot sitting on a well. My belly makes him uncomfy now.

Ta da! Here's some flowers!

Dottie by a spinning wheel in the visitors' center. There was also a loom that the tour guide taught Dottie how to use.

The kids and farming tools.

Dottie collected many flowers on our walk on one of the trails surrounding the Mission.


On Monday, Joe had the day off for Columbus Day, so we went to a little town called Castroville where there was an Alsatian settlement in the 1700s. We went on the historic walk (well, part of it), and then followed up by going to the local pastry shop.
This was an old Alsatian hotel, called "L'hotel Tarde."

Elliot eating his pastry. I had two myself. I need to stop being a piggy.

I'm sure we'll have more posts of our Sunday Morning Wanderings as we strive to keep the kids happy on Sundays.