Weekend Recap

Rhys and I had a delightful time in the Bay Area.

We left on Friday morning around 8:45 and made great time on our drive to Berkeley. We arrived at my sister's house at around 12:15. It was great to see my dad and all three of my sisters, as well as the other family members and friends who had come. We visited, ate some food, and Rhys harassed his cousins (especially his cousin Ben) while we waited for the graduation ceremony.

At about 3:45 a few of us headed over the Greek to save some seats for the rest of the group. There was lots of traffic on the Berkeley campus, but we finally reached our destination...and were greeted by a long line. Hmmm.... Fortunately, the wait wasn't too long and we were finally able to go in and grab some seats. I was glad I was wearing shorts because it was quite warm as we sat on the concrete seats waiting for the others to arrive. Rhys played with his Star Wars toys and snacked on some chips that I had brought. The Greek slowly filled to capacity and the rest of our group arrived just in time for the start of the ceremony.

Berkeley High School is a large, diverse school adjacent to the UC Berkeley campus. The student body is a mix of rich, poor, middle-class, white, black, Asian, latino, and many other groups I've negleted to mention. The ceremony itself reflected this diversity. It was loooooong (as all graduations are) and flowed is a somewhat haphazard fashion. Many beach balls were batted around and 'The Wave' occasionally flowed through the graduates' seating area. Rhys got more and more restless but he held it together and did very well. The weather turned from sunny and warm to foggy and cold; a feature I LOVE and miss greatly about the Bay Area. My niece finally walked across the stage and received her diploma. We all screamed madly, but our cheers paled in comparison to many of the other family members who sported air horns, cow bells, signs, and very loud voices.

After the ceremony we walked across the Berkeley campus to where the car was parked. Fortunately the walk was all downhill since I had Rhys on my shoulders most of the way. We walked past the Campanile (aka Sather Tower, the iconic clock tower) and my sister took a couple of photos. It had been a while since I had walked on the campus and it was neat to see some familiar sites. For those who don't know, I didn't attend UC Berkeley, but since many of my family members DID go there I have spent quite a bit of time on the campus.

We finally got back to my sister's house at around 10pm and I got Rhys to bed. He passed out almost immediately and, after having some champagne and visiting a bit more, I did the same.

The next morning we woke up, had a nice breakfast, and then headed across the Richmond-San Rafael bridge to San Rafael to visit one of my old friends. He drove down from Santa Rosa to his parents' house so I didn't have to drive all the way up to his place. His parents' house is the same house he grew up in. It's right across the street from MY childhood home, so going there was like a trip in the Way-Back machine for me. I got to see my old house (the current owners need to landscape a bit better!) and I got to see my friend's parents' house that I spent almost half of my childhood in. But that wasn't the most surreal part of the trip. The strangest part was watching MY son play with my friends' son (whom he had brought along with him) in the same trees and backyard expanses that my friend and I had played in when we were kids! Talk about deja vu!! It's a somewhat rural area with lots of trees, blackberry bushes, a creek and hidden patches of poison oak. The boys just kind of ran free while my friend and I had a couple of beers and caught up on each others' lives. The boys found a deer skull and large alligator lizard. We saw a doe and her two spotted fawns running through the trees. It all took me back to the wonderful times I had as I grew up. The place where we lived was a GREAT environment for a kid to grow up in. I wonder if our old house is for sale?? Oh wait, we could NEVER afford it!

Rhys (right) and friend playing on an old bay tree. Rhys is scratching his nose....really, that's all he's doing is scratching. Nothing more.

Our old house

Our street with my friend's parents' house on the right. We used to play football, ride bikes and skateboards, play catch, and get into all kinds of trouble on this street.

We finally left at around 3:30. Rhys and my friend's son invited each other to their respective birthdays and asked when the next play date would be. It was hard to explain to them that we live REALLY far apart and we may not see each other for a while.

I have a few more photos from the trip over on my moblog site.

The drive home was uneventful, especially since Rhys slept most of the way. We arrived home at around 7:30 and got the lowdown on what 'the girls' had been up to while we were away. There was much manicuring, hair dying, and Japanese food eating involved. I think I prefer what Rhys and I did...

Added later...I almost forgot about Father's Day! I received a wonderful hand-made card from Rhys and several hand-made cards and gifts from Irene. Perfect! They will make nice decorations for my cubicle. I also got to go on a bike ride and play lots of Lego Star Wars and the newly-acquired Lego Indiana Jones. I got to watch a little baseball as well as the Lakers-Celtics basketball game. To top it all off, I got to have pizza for dinner. What could be better?