January 10, 2008

• Welcome 2008

  Christmas break is over and the girls are back in school. Back to homework, projects, picking up kids at various times depending on after school activities and of course Girl Scouts.

  For the second half of the girl's break we drove up to central California to see my grandmother, who is now 102, and doing darn well considering. Do you know she does not have arthritis anywhere in her body? Nor does or has she had cancer of any type? Beyond occasionally repeating herself and getting tired out very easily, she is amazing to me. I asked her how she met my Grandfather (who passed on many years ago) and she said the Boy Scouts were using their backyard in Council Bluffs, Iowa for a campout and set up a tent. My grandfather was one of the boys at the time and was 16, if I recall correctly. He saw my grandma and went home and told his parents he had met the girl he would marry! She was only 14 then! He waited till she was 16 to propose and then they waited till she graduated from high school to get married. She graduated on a Friday, they were married on that Sunday. Can you imagine?

  So back to our overall trip. We decided to break it into two days travel, since 400 miles in one day with two kids can be painful! So the first day we drove up to Santa Barbara and spent the night. The next day, before leaving the area, we visited the Santa Barbara Mission. It is probably the best kept and prettiest of the mission today and it was interesting to learn about the history of California while there. Before California was part of the US, the Spanish sent Catholic missionaries up the coast to set up churches that were supposed to be spaced so there was one days travel between them. Once established, their goal was to convert the native indians to Christianity and teach them trades and skills.  Megan is learning all about the history of California this year in school and Becca did 2 years back, so both of them found it interesting to see in persons some of what they had read about in books.

  As typical, I had my trusty camera with me and took photos. Here are a few you might enjoy:

   

  The front of the mission

   

  A covered walkway

   

  This was a long stone basin that would fill with water from the mouth of the stone bear, and was used by the people to wash laundry in.

   

  This is the door from the chapel to the cemetery

  

  Beautiful, moss-covered fountain

  

  An old wood fence on the property with some winter foliage

  Anyhow, life is busy, as always. The floors have been put in at the old house! *Hurray!* And it looks SOOO good! Today we spent the day putting back the cabinet doors and drawers in the kitchen. We are almost done and only have maybe 30 minutes more on that part. Then I will clean up all the construction dirt and take pictures to share. You will be amazed by the before and after.

  Tonight I have a parent's meeting with Girl Scouts to go over what we will be doing the rest of this year. A week from Saturday is the start of the annual cookie sale, always a busy time! So I best run off and get ready for that. I hope everyone is well and having a great new year so far!

  • 7:18 pm
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