The Missions of San Antonio

Last week we decided to go see the other missions in San Antonio. We heard about them from a couple friends and I wanted to see them before we move. Andy didn't have school that day and the weather was perfect, so we packed up the kids and headed out!

This shows all 5 missions. The Alamo isn't included in the National Missions Park like the other four. (That is why we didn't know about the other missions!)

This room showed some of the old wall paintings. It would have been beautiful to see when it was first built. I imagine all the walls and ceilings were beautiful.
This is a stepping stone on the grounds. I just thought it was too funny! Texans really are very proud of their state!!
Andy in front of the chapel.

They still hold Sunday services at all four of the missions.

This was a light presentations at the visitor center at the San Jose Mission. You can see the San Antonio river and where each of the missions are built along it.

This is one of the cannon holes along the outer wall of the mission complex. Bradley had so much fun looking out the holes and yelling who knows what.

This is the chapel part of the mission.

I thought these stairs where pretty cool. They are made from wood.

This is the only portion of the chapel we saw that still had the original painting on it. It would have been so cool to see the whole building painted.

Bradley loved going in the chapels. I am sure it was partly because even a whisper echos in there and because of all the candles that are lit inside. I caught him on his tippy-toes trying to blow one out! I don't fully understand the significance of the candles, but I am sure they didn't want so rowdy two year old saying "Happy birthday to you" and blowing them out. We had to keep him out of the chapels after that.

The stone carvings where beautiful! There was so much detail.

We thought this map was pretty neat. It shows their perception of the world at that time.

Unfortunately the mill wasn't running when we were there, but we did get to see how it would work if it were running.

This is the granary. They had a really cool display in this room, but the glass around it showed a glare from the camera. The display was a diagram of the mission and showed what and where the residents did during the day.

This mission hadn't been restored like the first two had. It was kind of neat to see all the walls and foundations though. Bradley really liked running around and climbing on the walls.

There are Friars that still live at this particular mission.

By the time we got to this last mission we were all hot, tired and hungry. Bradley was running around and we had been telling him all day that he couldn't climb on the walls and to stay on the sidewalk. I was finally lost my temper and spanked him just before the last couple of pictures. That is why he is laying on the grass crying instead of standing and smiling. Andy told me after we got back to the car that when I spanked Bradley there were 3-4 people who had just walked out of the chapel behind me and the guard had just walked out of her office. They all saw! Andy carried Bradley crying back to the car and when they pasted the guard she asked if he was okay, then she glared as I past. I was a little bit embarrassed that so many people saw me loose my temper. What can I say...if I didn't have anything else to work on I would be translated already right!? :)