tomcavage.com

Arlo has been enjoying his first summer and the trips we have taken. First we visited Aunt Sue and Uncle Mark at their beach house. He loved the attention he got from his cousins. We went to the beach (Arlo lasted for a whole 20 minutes …but you have to start somewhere!) Then later he turned old enough to lather on the sunscreen, so we visited Pop-Pop and Grabu and went to the pool!

Meanwhile, Lili is loving being a big sister, and enjoys posing for pictures with Arlo any chance she gets.

Lili just received her first grade teacher and room assignment. She is really trying to be excited about first grade, but she is scared and would rather stay with her kindergarten teacher. For summer homework she has to do a puppet show, so keep an eye out for photos of that to come!

On June 7th, Arlo turned 5 months old. We celebrated with a picnic at Peace Valley Park with Jen’s brother Jake, his wife, Amy, and their two kids, Gavin and Haley.

This was the first time Arlo was in the outdoors, and he had a blast! Here he is, ready to enjoy the fresh air with Jen.

After our picnic, which included several different colors of lollipops to turn the kids’ tongues odd shades, Lili, Gavin, and Haley made a bee-line for the lake.

They waded into the lake and splashed for a while, until Gavin threw his hat into the water, retrieved it, and then asked why his hat was all wet. Too funny!

Lili, Gavin, and Haley all enjoyed going out on the fishing pier, though the people trying to catch fish may not have enjoyed their enthusiasm as much. All in all it was a great day and a fun way to celebrate Arlo turning 5 months old.

Scrapple

I grew up in Lancaster County, the center of Pennsylvania Dutch Country. To this day I can’t turn down a helping of chow-chow, Lebanon bologna, or shoofly pie. I can, however, turn away the breakfast “meat” know as Scrapple. Scrapple is a pork product made from the less desirable cuts, such as organ meat, which is mixed with cornmeal and pressed into a rectangle. It’s much like sausage in its heritage, but growing up we used to joke that whatever was too disgusting to put into sausage went into the Scrapple. That’s why I won’t be attending ScrappleFest at Reading Terminal Market tomorrow.

Rita's Water Ice

More likely, I will be getting a free water ice from Rita’s tomorrow. Since I live in South Philly, I’ve grown to love the local treat known as water ice. It’s worlds apart from the ice chips with flavorings that passes for water ice in Lancaster. On the first day of Spring each year, Rita’s gives away a free water ice to all customers as a way to celebrate the start of water ice season. What better way can there be to celebrate Spring? A helping of pig hearts mashed up with cornmeal and fried? For some people, maybe. As for me, I’ll be in the line at the water ice stand tomorrow. You’ll know it’s me, because I’ll be the only one pronouncing water without the Philly accent.