Das Wochenende

That's "The Weekend" for those of you not familiar with the language spoken by Europe's largest economy. A jam packed one for all the Merrills. Lincoln journeyed "Down the Shore" to New Jersey for a massive cross country meet that welcomed more than 250 teams across the northeast. The team spent the night at a hotel in Hazlet -- four boys to a room! -- and raced in Holmdel on Saturday. Lincoln continues to improve, running the soggy 3.1-mile course in 20:47, placing 39th in a field of 160 runners in JV Class D and helping his team to a 4th place overall finish. Naturally he didn't send us any photos from his adventure, but we did get this one on the bus from a mom of a classmate, who shared it with her. Thanks, James!

His sister, meanwhile, boarded a bus on campus at 6 a.m. Saturday morning for a DAY TRIP to New York City with hundreds of her fellow freshmen. Her new best friends didn't join her, though, so she pretty much treated herself to a day in Manhattan, purchasing Broadway tickets at the TKTS booth in Times Square, then catching a matinee of "& Juliet" on her own before dining at Chelsea Market (where she did meet up with classmates, just not the core group she's been hanging with on campus). She reports that she carried all of Grandma Vickie's defensive weaponry (personal alarm, mace, etc.), but nobody messed with her as she navigated the greatest city in the world. We FaceTimed with her on Sunday night, after she got back to D.C. around 2:30 a.m. She said it was great to spend time mostly by herself after the relentless socializing of the first month of college.

Greta's view from the Mezzanine. She has budgeted $200/month to spend of her summer earnings each month of college. This seat pushed her just slightly over for September.

Meanwhile, in Niskayuna, Carey and I enjoyed a date night on Friday, dining at the Manhattan Exchange, just off the Union College campus in Schenectady. Overpriced, of course, but we both had excellent burgers. Carey's even had a "drippy egg" on top. Saturday we hosted 4/5ths of the Santillanes family, following Allison's Parents Weekend at SUNY Cobleskill, which is closer to our house than theirs. I had a UAlbany football game to produce (the Great Danes are actually good this year, beating Villanova 31-10), but they tried out the newest restaurant in town, a Korean hot pot joint called "The Volcano."