I really hesitated to write this. Why? Because I want to keep this little secret for my friends and myself!!! However, I am hoping that there is such a large, positive response, that maybe additional family nights might be added..... What am I talking about? Adventure Sleepover – A Night at the Mission. My family’s idea of camping is a condo lakeside in Big Bear. However, my mom saw the night at the Mission and thought my niece might really like to go. So Grammy bought my niece tickets for her birthday and sent Aunty along to supervise. I am one lucky Aunty!
When we arrived at the Mission, they checked us in and had carts and wagons to help us get our tent and gear in. I asked my niece where she wanted to pitch our tent. She saw a monarch butterfly fly by and decided that that was where she wanted to be, so we pitched our tent and headed over to dinner. After a dinner from Ciao Pasta, she wandered over to the activities area while I lingered a bit with new acquaintances Phil and his wife Gloria. When I made it over to the activities, I was there in time to see her excitement over finding gold at the panning for gold table. She had already made her own adobe brick and I chose not to get my hands muddy, so I skipped that table. We both chose black arrowheads for our arrowhead necklaces although we went two completely different routes on the beads we used to finish them off. (Of course, as I was informed, hers is much prettier than mine is.) At the games table, we kept tying at Tic-Tac-Toe, so she decided to try the stilts. As long as Aunty held her, they were fun, but as soon as Aunty let go….. Not sure of the name of the game, but she chased a wooden hoop around with sticks, much like I remember seeing pictures of girls in pinafores doing in years of yore. Aunty stood back laughing and taking pictures, smart enough to not even try. I also took a fun video of her doing a potato sack race with a burlap bag. And lest I forget it, she got to make her own rope! They made it so she could lasso things and I reminded her no lassoing people, especially bro-bro!!!
Before long, it was time to tour the Mission. It was interesting to see at sunset as it has a whole new vibe. Although I have been there many times before, I am still learning new things. It was fun seeing the Mission through another's eyes as well. Although I might have lost track of my niece from time to time, all I had to do was look for the docent and she was within a step or two. (Proof positive that she is her Aunty’s girl!) As a just-turned-six-year-old, I was not sure how much was really sinking in… although I did notice she really perked up when they talked about the pirates that ransacked the Mission and I had to promise her that we would attend the next pirates reenactment! After our docent, David, finished taking the yellow team on their tour, by flashlights towards the end of it, it was time to go around again… finding our treasure. My little mystery buff was eager to go! As soon as we got clue 1, the yellow team was off and running. She and I found clue 2 and she took it to Steve, our captain, and he read it to the team by the lantern light my niece eagerly provided. Clue 3, clue 4, clue 5… as soon as the clue was read, she and her band of new friends were off like a shot. It was then that I realized she had (1) listened to every word that David told us and (2) that watching Scooby Doo has really helped her clue interpreting skills! As excited as the kids were, I do have to say they were very respectful and even though some of us adults did not move as fast as they would have liked, there were no complaints to hurry up. I will not say my niece found all the clues, but she was right there for most of them AND she found the treasure at the end… goodie bags for the kids. (And no, I am not going to spoil the surprise for others.)
After our treasure hunt, in which the yellow team got back first… not that anybody was taking notes… it was campfire time. As we made our s’mores over the campfire, our hostess for the night, Megan, asked what people liked the best. My little one was first to respond and said the clues was her favorite and a few others agreed. My fave part? That I had a kid to “borrow” for the night so that I could participate in such a fun, family event! As my sidekick was consuming my s’more, Megan told us a love story about a teenage beauty who did not want to marry the old (about 40’s) governor of California, but a dashing young sea Captain. The governor was upset and in an effort to force her back into his arms, decided to make it illegal for residents of California to marry Americans (this was before our statehood). The young couple sailed into the sunset and got married, but eventually they came back to visit her parents. When they did so, both were arrested and their fine was to buy bells for the Mission in Los Angeles. Not exactly what the governor was hoping for, but the fine was paid and the young couple went on to have a long happy life filled with many children. They started a store in San Diego that you can still shop in if you visit Old Town. Megan also told us a ghost story about another pair of young lovers: Magdalena, daughter of a soldier in the garrison at the Mission, and Teofilo, an artist painting frescos in the Great Stone Church. As Teofilo was considered to be of a lower class, Magdalena’s father forbids her from seeing Teofilo. However, she disobeyed and when she was caught, part of her punishment was to walk in front of the congregation with a penance candle. She started up the aisle on December 8, 1812 to with her candle, but never got the opportunity to confess to the priest. Why? Does that date ring a bell? An earthquake stuck that date, bringing down the roof of the Great Stone Church of Mission San Juan. Forty parishioners, Magdalena included, died that day. It took months for them to find all the bodies under the rubble and it is said that Magdalena was found with the candle still in her hand. Rumor is on nights with a full moon, you can see her in the one remaining window in the ruins of the Great Stone Church. Lucky for us, it was only a small crescent moon that night!
After that, we all headed to bed. From a neighboring tent, I heard the father reading a chapter from a book he and his sons are enjoying. Some hearty souls just rolled out their sleeping bags and used the stars as their roof! I heard a little low hum of others talking, but for the most part, it was very peaceful. Once the restaurants closed down, it was especially quiet. Although I am used to the hum of the freeway in the background, on the grounds of the Mission, even the freeway could not be heard. With a limit of only 50 people, a few bunnies, a couple fountains full of koi and a cat, I am betting it was much quieter the night we were there than when the Mission was in its heyday.
In the morning, we woke up to a simple breakfast of very fluffy pancakes, crisp bacon and a variety of fruit prepared for us by the docents. After that, we were free to stroll around a while. We had seen lots of caterpillars and a few cocoons the night before. One cocoon opened in the morning and the butterfly fell into the hand of a little girl. She carefully set it on a bench out of the way so that the monarch would not be stepped on. Each time it started flapping its wings, the wings seemed to unfold a little more and look more like the butterfly we are used to seeing. Everybody in the group seemed to stop and take pictures of it testing out the flapping of its wings, but the girls in the group seemed the most fascinated and fiercely protective of it. Although she was not there when the butterfly came out of its cocoon, my niece arrived but moments after its emergence, and I think it is something she will never forget. I know it killed her to not be able to hold it, but she was respectful enough to know that touching it would probably have resulted in the butterfly never flying, so she sat back and just watched. One of the girls was a bit of a butterfly expert and told us all about butterflies. She said they liked a certain flower, so my niece picked some flowers and set them down and the butterfly had its first meal. It was hard to drag her away after that, but it was 8:30 and we needed to leave so that they could open up the Mission to the public. We did make our way out with two tickets to come back and enjoy the Mission again another time. Although I do not think it will be as entertaining as David was, my niece noticed the numbers at certain stations and wants to go through the Mission again with the free audio tour (I am really going to have to look up when the pirates are coming back).
Overall, I will say it was an extremely successful birthday gift. It was so refreshing to see a group of kids enjoying some hands-on old-fashioned fun rather than watching a special on TV or playing a game on their iPad. Aunty got to do something she loves, trick the kid into learning something while thinking she is playing, and our little adventurer got to do many new things she loved. Thanks to mom/Grammy for coming up with the gift, thanks to my sister and brother-in-law who let me borrow her for the night and thanks to my niece for choosing me to go with her. Lastly, if I did not say it enough already, a very special thanks to all the docents who made the night so memorable. I hope all of you readers get a chance to one day experience our Mission in this special way as well. I am going to mark my calendar now to make sure we get our RSVP in early before it is sold out next year.
