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On the Wednesday of Holy Week, finals finished, for better or for worse, my roommate and two others decided it would be an excellent plan to go to the beach and chill for a few hours.
I decided to tag along and within a half hour we packed into Daniel's car equipped with a jar of p.b. and four spoons, sliced apples, and some rather amazing bread (the last two provided by Miss Tasha). It was a rather lovely night. Good discussion, much walking, lots of pictures (just me), and myself and Tasha acted like little kids in the playground (what fun). We concluded the night by walking along the shore while praying the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet. All the while avoiding giant piles of goo (which I later learned were jellyfish).
The next day was Thursday, and being that I had decided to spend an extra day at the apartments enjoying the company of my friends without the worry of homework, I made the decision that my day would be best spent at Miramar Lake. It's quite large, about five miles all the way around, with an excellent walking path and various hillside trails. Once again, we (Lisa, Tasha, Daniel, and I) all piled into Daniel's car (he's such a sweet guy) and drove to the lake where we managed to have more good discussion while walking the entire five miles around the lake with some detours (not necessarily short cuts) on the hiking trails.
One one of the trails Daniel found a miniature boulder weighing about thirty-forty lbs and decided that it was really quite amazing. He carried it all the way down the hill on his shoulder and the rest of the way around the lake. (You see, the reason it was so amazing was how sturdy it was, unbreakable and "practically perfect in every way".) At one point, he decided to drop it on the asphalt to see what would happen. Nothing really, except it made a large mark on the pavement. The rock now had a name. It was henceforth dubbed "Rocky" and the poor unfortunate pavement was dubbed "Mark".
We managed to make it back in time for seven o'clock Mass which lasted until about 9:15. It was quite nice and very packed. Good Shepherd is the largest parish in San Diego. I got there with my roommate about ten minutes early and had a hard enough time finding a seat.
That concludes my adventures while staying at the apartment. I left on Good Friday and unfortunately got back with all my stuff only to unpack it and then repack for our trip up north the following day. During the three hours, we watched "Jesus of Nazareth" and my sister picked up her Bible and Summa Theologica. She and I prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3:00.
In case you don't know, every year my family makes a trip to Redwood City (halfway between San Jose and San Francisco). The entire extended family lives there. I lived there until a couple months before my eighth b-day. We usually drive, but this time we flew. As I hadn't been on a plane in about four years, the whole thing was rather exciting for me. I am going to make this explanation as short as possible, mainly because I think a whole account of the trip would bore you, but mostly it would take up a lot of time and a lot of room.
I managed to spend a good deal of time with cousins (mainly those on my mother's side). There's two of them: ages three and seventeen months. The youngest also happens to be my godson.
My grandparents have a rather large hill in their backyard which was covered with a green and gold blanket of poppies.
The entire yard is dotted with fruit trees which were all in blossom; all pink and white. Onions were growing at the bottom of the hill. I spent much of my time back there, chasing and tickling little ones on the deck, and watching as they delightfully picked poppies off the hillside and ran down the hill. Perhaps the cutest thing I witnessed during the week was the "monkey see, monkey do" act, performed by the three year old and her brother. Everything she did, he had imitate (rather unfortunately in some cases). On our last night there, Clara had started to cry over something. Benjamin simply looked at her, looked around at all of us, and started to cry to0. He would stop, smile, and then let out a wailing noise, imitating her with all he could muster.
Another large part of my trip was spent taking long walks around my grandparents neighborhood. It's really quite gorgeous. Large trees (and houses), colorful flowers blossoming in purple, pink, yellow, and white, the occasional cat curled up in the sun or carefully treading through the long grass, stopping to stare with large green eyes.
On the other side of the family (my dad's side), I have several cousins. My dad is one of five and all except one are married and, interestingly enough, each have three children. I saw five of them over the past week. On Monday night, after an excellent dinner and my grandma's homemade cake, my grandmother was playing cards with me and my siblings. Two of my cousins were watching and my dad was talking with his brother (their dad). At one point, my dad was trying to get my direct family's attention. So he calls out, "Hey, Lynches?" and we all look at him. You see, we're all Lynches. I speak up and say, "Which ones?" We all had a good laugh.
My dad has one sister and she happens to have three little girls. Very cute, very blonde, and very sociable, always wanting to play. We ate lunch outside, and while my mom and sister played with the youngest who were walking about watering the roses with a giant watering can, my grandmother, six-year-old cousin, and I discussed the shapes of the clouds. At one point, I said, "They really are quite lovely, aren't they. Like tufts of cotton." My cousin goes, "That is what they are." Oh, loveliness. After lunch, we had a wonderful time playing hide'n'seek, which I seemingly had a difficult time with. I (the hider) literally walked in on my seekers. :)
Cousins!
That would be my break in a nutshell. Since we got back on Thursday, I have been hurriedly getting ready to return to school on Monday. :) Organizing books, downloading software, buying more books, getting school supplies, putting away old notes from last quarter. I need to finish everything today, as I am going to a Baptism tomorrow. The joys of welcoming a new life into the Church! I hope that I haven't bored you all with this post. Hopefully, I don't wait too long before I post again. :) Have a wonderful Easter season and may Christ bestow his blessings upon you all!
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