It all began with the first meeting of the freshman seminar when I had to take a picture of Paul Dimaggio to show that memory was expendable (only in the good sense, of course).

Then we needed to document Benjamin's violin with his name and vital statistics lest one of the holligans at Johnson Park decide to make it their own.

Of course, these events were just the prelude to the main events of the weekend. It was freshman parent's weekend, so we went to campus and took the obligatory mother and daughter and father and daughter pictures before a person passing by insisted that if we didn't let him take this picture of the 3 of us, Sarah would be traumatized for life by not remembering who came to see her that weekend. His comments about trauma caused me to take this picture on the way home to make sure I wouldn't be traumatized by a camera with a broken battery. Jane was fairly incognito as she got ready to go to New York for an overnight and so had to miss the visit to Sarah's room that Benjamin seemed to enjoy. After taking a picture of Sarah with Robert Accordino, her RA, we felt that the only thing left to do was to observe Sarah's bicycle standing regally in the rain and then declare Freshman parent's weekend a success.

Later that day, Benjamin and I decided to brave the rain and go to the Princeton/Colgate football game where we ran into Jon and Jonah and sat with them as we watched the cheerleaders scream for the score to change against an ominous sky. The little raiders didn't scare the tiger even as Mr. Number 15 practiced kicking hoping that he'd get a chance to show his talents before the game ended. He was a very lucky man because after blowing a field goal that should have been a chip shot, Benjamin and I showed them the way down field so that Princeton could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and snag a 14-10 victory.

Back at home, Benjamin was sorting pennies on the chess board using the handcuffs as a prop for the obvious reasons as the bags of recent decades grew and we still needed to sort the silver and handle the English coins before we could head out to dinner at a new restaurant appropriately chosen for parents weekend to take Sarah to a recent in a distant town that had been recommended by people who knew the area.

On Sunday, I drove the car to parking space #63 where I parked by this sign and then got on the train, though I took pictures of neither the machines nor people selling tickets. When I got off the train, I passed by the large needle that commemorates the garment district and observed that getting you name into a sign for $5 is the new New York thing especially if you are Ashley, Jessica, Hellen, Alexis or Joser, though I've never met a Hellen or Joser myself. At the north end of Times Square, I saw a Cadillac coming out of the billboard across from the Tkts booth where the choices seemed to be limited. So, I continued on to Fifth Avenue.

As I approached, there were loud noises and then I saw these gentlemen heating their drums so I knew something was about to happen. As the people gathered around feather hats seemed to be everywhere as the dancers got ready and the drummers were enjoying the warmth of pre-heated drums. The dancers watched as Cuba approached with escorts and photographers while this guy had to control the traffic flow. The pride of Cuba rode by as the Dominican Republic approached to celebrate the Hispanic community which allowed me to sneak across the street and on to the Waldorf Astoria where Jane was staying. After a picture of the chandelier, the friezes, and the potted palms in the lobby, Jane, Kaylen and Courtney arrived but they had to go up to their room to get enough light for the pictures to come out.

Once back on the street, we watched Mexico with its elegant costumes pass by as the traffic was held back to let the next float appear only to be followed by Paraguay led by its float. The man with the funny at let this person pose with him so that I could get a group photo as Bolivia got ready to enter the parade. Jane was distracted for a moment by this cell phone flag which was perfect except for the girl in the photo who was happy to not pay roaming charges.

Panama was next with fancy dancers after which Peru came and then Puerto Rico and their dancers while Jane and Kaylen had gone to HMV to get some batteries (and probably a little bit of quiet). These groups paraded by while these groups waited to come on to the parade and we tried to find our way away from the noise and tumult.

Even Times Square seemed quieter than the parade as we headed over. We recorded the billboards and wished that we could have some cup of noodles to warm ourselves. Next we saw an exact replica of Jane's cell phone above the police station and took this picture of the Gilmore Girls billboard for Kaylen. We took the subway from here descending the long escalator before debating whether we could take a picture of Jane and Kaylen in the subway station. On the other end, we were in Washington Square Park watching the dog run even though we didn't stop and read the sign for People and Dogs only. The man in this umbrella stand seems to have overcharged us in the shadow of the arch and his pretzels have too much salt on them. After watching the musicians and using the facilities while observing the service truck that had forgotten to bring paper towels for the last few years.

wonder of wonders, we ran into Gary from Dillon basketball games of the 80's and 90's before his legs gave out and he got an honest (well, not totally honest) job on the sidewalks of New York and he said appropriately kind words to Jane about the joys of being my child. Wit Fiorello La Guardia to guide us, the trip down town was easy. We took these pictures of T shirts that define grammar and good judgment before crossing the street to the Fcuk store where they could have used some T shorts from the store across the street. Dom was one of our favorite Soho stores as we made our way down to Canal Street and were greeted by this elegant limo that must have been carrying someone important.

Once on Canal Street we took pictures of Burger King and McDonald's in Chinese. This man got in our way as I tried to take a picture of the fire hydrants of Little Italy as we made our way to Ferrara's where the menu made Jane Kaylen and David fall into stupors that could only be relieved when Jane's cookies and hot chocolate arrived along with David's steamed milk and Kaylen's eclair. David's cannoli took many tries before the light was right for this final photo.