santa barbara mission

https://picasaweb.google.com/107208655884324651674/SantaBarbaraMission?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfG-siN9onICg

we finally made it to santa barbara to visit troy's aunt linda (who, for some reason, is not included in the pictures, but she really was there--see next post about the butterflies). we met linda at the mission, and then everybody waited around so i could feed the baby (hence the Heroic Entrance of Mom picture).

there was a lovely creche outside the mission on the lawn with live animals--and no baby Jesus. linda said they don't leave him out in the manger because he has disappeared in times past.

the cactus are in the courtyard inside the mission. aren't they beautiful? :)

i've been on a mission kick lately. i have seen signs for historic missions on the freeway for years and we're finally going to see them. we went to see the san gabriel mission a couple weeks ago (but forgot the camera). turns out "mission style" architecture is pretty faithful to actual missions. the cool thing about the missions we've seen so far is that they are currently functioning churches. it's fun to see california history. :)