Today is Sponsored by the Letter 'R'

The first full-fledged day of the road trip is a 3-year-old's delight: pick up Ryan (in Arrrlington), pass through Richmond, and end up in Roanoke. In fact, I happened to stop by the house of one of my favorite three-year-olds, Martha Engel, yesterday as I passed through Silver Spring, MD.

I joined the Engels, including Mom Beth and Sister Clare -- Dad Max was hard at work at school -- for snack time. (Snack time, in case you forgot, is immediately post-afternoon nap and is one of the best hours of the day.)

My contribution to snack time was pizzelles, which I had picked up at Anthony's in Philly's Italian Market the day before. The pizzelles were a bit squishy, perfect for the small teeth of kids under the age of 5 (shown above) or of old South Philly Italian women over the age of 75 (shown below).


Martha's contribution to snack time, in addition to being chatty and superadorable, was to make a car out of her toys.


As you might expect, I much appreciated her choice to build a car on the first day of my road trip. Given her skill at counting out 4 wheels for the car, there is no doubt that Martha -- not AAA -- will be my first call if I get a flat on the road.

And in case of emergency, at least Clare will keep us entertained while we wait for the tow truck.


(Three quick credits: Thanks to Beth Davis and Heather Wiggins for passing along the Arlington rap; thanks to Autumn4680 for the South Philly photo; and thanks to my Dad for introducing me to the pizzelle ~25 years ago.)