BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00639 Andy bought a Pikachu from Build a Bear a few weeks ago, it has become his go to Stuffed Animal. This has been the year of Pokémon for him. Andy loves playing the game and with the Pokémon Battle game that we got to review a while back I’ve learned how to play and so has Eva. I was heading to bed and Allison peeked in on Andy, she had to show me how he was sleeping on top of Dave (his name for his Pikachu).

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00638 I recently pulled out my old gaming systems including the Wii U which runs old Wii games. I had Guitar Hero for the Wii and put it away when Andy was little because he kept fiddling with the guitars and pulled down the stand for them. So the game was relocated to the basement where it sat for several years. But now with the new office taking shape I wanted to bring that back up and well as my old games.  We dusted (literally) off Guitar Hero and the guitars and gave them some play time tonight. The kids were so impressed by how Mom and Dad could play the songs (easy mode). The kids gave it a try and found it difficult but wanted to keep playing. Eva’s favorite son to play is Story of My Life by Social Distortion. Andy’s is School’s Out by Alice Cooper. He’s funny because he will trash talk me about getting the high score for the song but when I say, “I’ll play that one he does not want me to take that honor away from him. He’s getting better at the gam...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00637 We received some Pokémon costumes from Disguise Inc for free to review. Opinions are our own. This past year I learned how to play Pokémon so that I could play with Andy and Eva. We are really enjoying the game. When I was asked if we would like to check out some Pokémon Costumes I was happy to do so. Disguise Inc sent us two costumes and some accessories. I decided to go with the inflatable Poke Ball adult costume. This has a special blower that inflates the costume. You can decide to allow your arms out of the costume or pull them in. It is super easy to put on and inflate. For Andy we picked the Charmander costume. We also got the Charmander accessory set that includes the Charmander Headpiece and tail. We added that to the Charmander Classic costume which had the jumpsuit and mask. Andy can then decide if he wanted to wear the Charmander mask or the Charmander headpiece. We played around with the costumes and also Andy’s new Pikachu stuffed animal. I do...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00636 Amazon has an exclusive set of Funko Pop characters of the six MCU original Avengers. The set, once fully assembled recreates the moment in The Avengers first movie where Captain America, Black Widow, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Hawkeye prepare to take on the Chitauri horde. The camera moves around the group as they check and ready their gear and put their game faces on. I have 5 of the six so far with Black Widow arriving today. The last Figure will be released on November 20th and that will be Captain America. Once all six figures are here in the house I plan to display them in my office on a lazy susan so that it can spin around and show all of the figures.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00635 I ran through Walmart on Friday morning and was checking out the toys section. There is a company called Jada that made some vey detailed miniature die cast cars from movies and tv. They had some G.I. Joe vehicles and a set of 3 Transformers. I picked up the Transformers one. It came with Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Starscream. They have pretty decent weight to them and great detail. They are now sitting on my Game Over sign on my desk.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00634 We received an African Dwarf Frog Biosphere from Froggy’s Lair for free to review. Opinions are our own. With so much uncertainty and anxiety inducing upheaval in the world around us, especially for our children, it is nice to find something that is peaceful and calming. We are now proud owners of a couple of very chill African Dwarf Frogs from Froggy’s Lair and just having them hanging out in my office has had a soothing calming effect. When the frogs arrived they were packaged very carefully. I only had to pick up a gallon of distilled purified water ($1). Do not use tap water as that will cause a chemical reaction that will cause the Biosphere not to work properly. The frogs came in a secure bag of water. We first added the bioactive sand to the bottom of the octagonal tank. Then we added the colored rocks (blue) plus some decorative rocks (so the frogs can hide). Then we added the bamboo stalk and the water. I tried pouring the water slowly so as not to...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00633 Super Impulse sent me these two World’s Smallest video games from their Tiny Arcade Series for free to play with and review. Opinions are my own. Back when I was a kid one of my favorite games on my old TI 994A computer was BurgerTime. In it you ran around as a Chef Peter Pepper and had to assemble burgers by walking across the various pieces of a burger to make them drop. At the same time Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Egg and Mr. Pickle are trying to chase you down and prevent you from assembling the burgers. You can drop them down with the layers of the burger or drop layers of the burger on them for bonus points. The game is a hard one but fun. The little video game has the classic images on the sides and on the front light up marquee. Controls are simple, up and down and you can throw pepper at your pursuers to prevent them from pestering you. With the Turtle Fighters game you get the classic cabinet look for a game that I would plunk quarter after quarter into at t...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00632 I was off to get my comic books today and at a stoplight I notice the van over to the let. It was a work van painted to look like the A-Team van. I had to take a quick photo of it and now I wish I had followed it to see what business it was for. It was definitely a work truck because it had tool boxes built into the back part of it.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00630 Think Fun provided us with an advanced copy of their newest game: Escape The Room The Cursed Dollhouse for free to play and review. Opinions are our own. I love solving puzzles and figuring out clues in games. while I have never been to an actual escape room I have played a few home versions of escape rooms. Back in 2017 we reviewed the Think Fun escape room, Mystery at StarGazer Manor. We loved that game and even though it was for recommended ages 10 and up Andy who was 6 or so at the time could still actively participate and he enjoyed it. With this newest game it promises to be the scariest one yet. Think fun is not playing about that at all. This escape room is creepy and is recommended for ages 13 and up. If your child gets easily freaked out over creepy things then please take my advice and wait till they are older. Andy was really creeped out by the game. Eva was fine and wants to keep playing. I think Andy had his fill as we tried to go through 2 of...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00629 Yesterday Andy and Allison made cupcakes. Eva was at a friend’s house and Andy felt left out so he wanted to do something fun. Allison asked him what he wanted to do and he wanted to bake. Today he and Eva decorated the cupcakes. Andy went all out in his and even made some cupcakes with surprises inside. He also made some special ones like a S’Mores cupcake and he used part of that giant Hershey’s Kiss to make that one. He also made one with a slice of strawberry on top. Despite being on a fairly strict eating plan this month I did have a cupcake and it was the one with strawberry on top. We can’t have that sitting around past the night. It was cute, he made a purple icing and then added a fancy umbrella to it. It sort of looks like the strawberry went to the beach.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00628 Tonight we attended the Tuxes & Tails MasFURade Gala to benefit the Kentucky Humane Society. My sister, Tara, got us tickets and even got us dinner from House of Fortune. The event was virtual and it was all to raise money. This is normally an in person big deal event and while it was virtual it was still a big del. There was a special guest DJ a band and lots of information on animals to adopt. There were also many items up for auction or raffle. We ended up winning an auction item and getting a couple of raffle tickets (no winners). In all it was a great night and the kids loved dressing up (that is a mustache drawn on tape on Andy’s lip). I even wore a collared shirt. I know, I couldn’t believe it either.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00627 Tonight we were supposed to go to an outdoor movie night at America’s Best Defense but it was cancelled so we stayed home instead and had a movie night at the house. We got pizza and we watched Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey because I really wanted to get to Bill and Ted Face the Music. We’ll watch that another night. The kids enjoyed Excellent Adventure and tolerated Bogus Journey. I remember as a kid thinking that one was way out there and upon seeing it again back to back with the first movie it was better but still quite weird. I got more of a kick out of it this time around, though. What we all got a kick out of was the innocence of Andy. In Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure there is a part where Napoleon is bowling and he trips as he throws the ball and slams the floor over and over again saying “Shit” in French. This is put up as a sub-title with “Shit” being posted over and over. Well, Andy doesn’t speak French ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00626 Tonight, our local bookstore An Unlikely Story had two events that we attended virtually. The first was a conversation between Jeff Kinney the author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and owner of An Unlikely Story and Neil Patrick Harris. Neil was talking about his new book The Magic Misfits: The Fourth Suit. To be honest, I did not know that he was an author. I’d never heard of the series before and now that I know about it I want to get the series for the kids so that they can read the rest of the books. We will be getting a copy of the 4th book that was recently released. The virtual event was a lot of fun. Neil was excellent and the banter back and forth with Jeff was fun. Then Neil opened it up for questions and we got to see all the people on Zoom. Neil asked that we turn on our cameras and there we were smack dab between Jeff and Neil on the screen. We were in Allison’s profile so her name was on the screen but my face was what you saw when I turned on the ca...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00625 The other day Allison took Eva to the Mall so that she could meet a friend and visit a couple of stores. She took Andy along as well and they looked for school things and clothes so they were at Macy’s. In one area they found knick knacks and totally impractical stuff. That is where Andy found the unicorn egg cup. As if his cravings for omelets wasn’t enough now he wants to have hard boiled eggs and eat them in the little unicorn egg cup. He’s a unique kid, that’s for sure. However, because of this he can now make a mean omelet and knows how to boil an egg properly. * With Supervision . We had a few things going on today. The kids were on their home day for school and while they were home I built two new bookshelves. These go on either side of the current bookshelf that is filled with my Skylanders toys. The new bookshelves were filled with Disney Infinity in one and LEGO Dimensions and Light Seekers in the other. The one franchise I could not add was StarL...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00624 We received a free copy of the new game Pizza Party Throwdown from Hog Wild Toys to play with and review. Opinions are our own. Who doesn’t love pizza? I know that I am a huge fan of the stuff. There is a place on Cape Cod that we love and it is not officially Summer until we have their pizza. But we don’t generally fling our pizza toppings onto the pizza as it spins. We save that for when we play Pizza Party Throwdown from Hog Wild Games. This new game is a lot of fun and can be played on several different skill levels. The premise is simple, use the pizza chef that you have to fling toppings up and onto a spinning pizza. That is the easy part. However you can test yourself and do a half and half pizza where you try to only fling you toppings on one specific half of the pizza. You can also attempt to fill just one quarter of the pizza with your toppings. There are the various options and some skill involved. Plus there is utter chaos and mayhem afoot when ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00623 We received a review copy of the game Diamond Heist from Yulu for free to play with and review. Opinions are our own. Most games that we have been playing lately have to do with cards and dice or more cards and more dice. This game is quite different. In Diamond Heist you and your team must infiltrate a thief’s lair and retrieve a stolen diamond. Your team consists of the 1-3 other family members or friends who are playing the game. The game can be done with 2 players but it is much more fun with 4 players in total. Each player gets a ring that is connected to a string that is connected to a spy code agent. They are all attached to the SAME Spy Code agent. By working together you need to disarm a booby trap, 4 video cameras and then open the vault and get the diamond to the getaway car before the guards show up. The game requires good coordination among the team as well as some hand-eye coordination to accomplish the tasks. There is a lot of give and take i...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00622 The Last Kids on Earth was a series I did not think I would have any interest in reading. However, once I got going I found I could not stop because the series was so fun. Then the series got turned into a show on Netflix and things continued to take off, toys and more! I reached out to the author, Max Brallier through Twitter and we connected. I asked him if he would like to do an interview with me for the book, The Last Kids on Earth and the Skeleton Road. He agreed and we did the interview back in early August. You can check that out below. I asked Max if he’d get word to his publicist to send me an advanced copy of the book. It arrived on Friday and I have been quickly reading through it. The book is a fun read and a great next chapter in the whole series. I love the illustrations by Douglas Holgate. I’ll be creating a video review of the book soon, hopefully in time for the September 15th release date of the book. I missed my chance to meet Max at An U...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00621 As with all things 2020, Free Comic Book Day was a little different this year. It wasn’t just the cosplayers wearing masks. This year everyone was wearing masks and keeping things distanced. Free Comic Book Day was also moved from May to September because of the pandemic and also because it made more sense for people to pick up all of the free books than just a few each week. The books were released each week but doing a big event is something much more fun. I like how Wild Time Comics did the day. They had things spread out so that you weren’t on top of everyone and the books were all outside so they were easy to pick up. There were some cosplayers there on hand for taking photos. I was leaving and I noticed a statue of Ravage from The Transformers over by the building. I talked with the guy who built it and then took today’s photo with the prop. He did an amazing job on it. He even took it to a Transformers convention where there was a cosplayer dressed a...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00620 Super Impulse sent me some of the newest editions to their World’s Smallest line of micro action figures for free to play with and review. Opinions are my own. Back at Toy Fair in February I toured the Super Impulse booth and got to see that their World’s Smallest Line was getting bigger with the addition of more micro action figures from the Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These new World’s Smallest and World’s Coolest toys join the ranks of micro action figures from Transformers, Power Rangers and G.I.Joe! They are the coolest little toys and I was excited to see which ones were sent to me. In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line I received Leonardo and Donatello. In the Masters of the Universe line I received He-Man and Teela. Let’s start with Masters of the Universe. This franchise is looking to explode in the near future with a couple of reboots coming to Netflix. There is still a large following of fans from way back when I ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00619 Don’t call our James “Fat” it makes Eva mad. I’m not saying that he is heavy but when he jumps off of Eva’s bed Allison and I have a game called “Cat or Kid” and try to determine who is coming down the stairs. That is how heavy this cat is. Tonight we were watching The Dragon Prince during dinner and Eva came in carrying James. She sat down on the bean bag chair and rolled backwards with the cat on her. She had a hard time getting back up, but don’t call that cat fat.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00618 With the kids being home every other day and at school the other days we have to get creative with what to do in the time between school. Andy has spent a lot of time in front of a screen and I suggested that he do something else and he said that he had no projects to work on. I reminded him that he had Emmett’s house from The LEGO Movie. He had started that with one of his friends almost a year ago and was saving it for the friend to come back. I told him that he should just build it and enjoy it because we don’t know when that friend can come back. So, he spent the afternoon building and not on screens. Then he showed everyone how it worked right before bed. He was very proud of his work. I may have to bring in the giant LEGO container for him to use. He likes being able to make whatever he wants and not so much look at the instructions.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00617 Allison and I have been talking daily walks for a couple of months now. We started because I was in a Fitbit challenge at work and she had been as well. The whole family has fitbits now and if there is something tracking my steps and keeping me accountable then I am getting up and moving a lot more than I had been. I am constantly reminded to move around and it has been very good for both of us. We’ve lost some weight but starting the day off with a walk is nice. We talk if we need to talk or just walk and enjoy the scenery. Now with school back in session we wake up early and get a couple of laps around the park before Allison has to go home and get ready for school. I keep walking our usual route because I won’t get a chance later in the day to go again, or I won’t be that motivated to do so. Allison gets a ton of steps at school throughout the day that make up or the steps he missed out on by cutting the walk short. This morning as I continued along I lo...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00616 My grandfather turned 94 today and in order to gather everyone together from across the country and in their quarantined homes by cousin set up a special Zoom session for everyone to attend. We got nearly everyone and I think it was something that he enjoyed despite having some difficulty getting connected. Once he was though we all got a chance to talk, play games and have a lot of laughs. We actually went and visited Grandpa yesterday. We socially distanced in the backyard but the kids were there and Grandpa was very impressed that they were both taking karate. The kids got to ham it up a bit then. I attempted to get him set up and ready to go for Zoom then but that did not happen so well. I then tried to help later that night and that was worse. When we started the Zoom my cousin was on the phone with him trying to talk him through it. Eventually he was able to get on for the first Zoom session then it hit the end and we had to start another and well, he...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00615 We received four of the Eldrador line of toys from Schleich for free to play with and review. Opinions are our own. while at Sweet Suite I learned about the Eldrador line from Schleich. These highly detailed figurines are pretty amazing. I personally love the Snow Wolf as seen above. That was the one that I wanted for sure. I requested that and the Ice Dragon, Lava Dragon and the Fire Eagle. I gave the toys to Eva and she is working on a story about them, that is not ready yet because she is working on tons of things at the same time now. I liked this line because many of the creatures are a mix of mythological and fantasy. Eva is heavy into a fantasy stage right now and loves dragons and so much more. She’s reading about creatures like these all the time and I thought that she’d like these figures to help inspire her to write her own stories as well as for things to photograph and sketch. We took the figures to the beach and while I tried to take images th...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00614 The Summer is over and we enjoyed ourselves on the Cape a lot. Despite there being a pandemic and having to quarantine throughout the year we were fortunate enough to be able to be down the Cape and visit with my parents multiple times. This was the first year in a long time that I have had Labor Day Weekend off. In the past we have gone to King Richard’s Faire but that isn’t happening this year. Instead we went down for a few days of rest and relaxation by the beach. We had beautiful weather and so Allison and I were able to walk each morning along Great Bay which is her happy place. Even when she wasn’t feeling too up to walking she still wanted to make sure that she got to walk along that stretch. It is a beautiful walk. The beach was a bit crazy today because there was a Trump rally on the water so about 100 boats drove by with their Trump banners and such. Some people waved from the beach and supported them and others did not. It was a crazy thing to r...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00613 While Eva was on the Cape with my parents for an extra week she and my dad built a tiny free library. On our last visit to the Cape a few weeks ago Eva finished painting the library. While we were home Dad put the finishing touches on the library and got a 4X4 stake to be able to put it into the ground. Today the library was installed. We’re on the Cape for the Labor Day Weekend. I think this is the first Labor Day Weekend in a very long time that we have been down. I completely forgot how busy it would be traffic-wise. We were in a few miles and about 40 minutes of traffic before the Bourne Bridge. But, we got down and were able to chill out and relax a bit. We did not bother with the beach today because it was so late in the day but the library is filled and installed and looks fantastic. People have already come to check it out.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00612 Well, we’ve gone and done it. We’ve let Eva get a phone of her own. We did this for a couple of reasons. Eva is nearly of the age where kids get phones now. She’s two months out from becoming a teenager. She’s incredibly responsible and she ‘s got a little job of her own. It is because of this job that we decided that it was time for a phone. Her job is to look after a friend’s dog after school a few days a week. I didn’t want her off doing something like this after school with no way to get in touch with us in case of emergency. Thus, the phone. I went to Xfinity this afternoon to pick up the phone and get things started. We have two phones on the account already and I had Eva get the iPhone SE as her first phone. It is not as crazy powerful as the iPhone 11 Pro but it will do what she needs. I also went right out and got a screen protector for the phone. Last night I ordered a case for the phone and that is all the physical protection we got for the phone...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00611 Tonight Eva earned her yellow belt in Jr. Krav Maga. She is doing a great job in the classes. Her instructors all tell us how well she is doing. When I work with her on things she does a great job. She can kick higher and better than I will ever how to do. When does a roundhouse kick she can already make the perfect sound on the kick shield. I have rarely ever done a kick so well. I am so proud of her. I’m also very proud of Andy. he’s all about having omelets. He can make his own with supervision. He does make a tasty omelet. And he ate that whole thing.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00610 Today was the first day of school for the kids. Allison went back to school on Monday and this year she is working with the Kindergarten classroom. The kids go to school in cohorts. This means that they go to school either Tuesday/Thursday or Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This was Tuesday/Thursday week. The kids had a nice time at school even with the new normal. They have been troopers through the entire process. Allison has her hands full with 22 kids in her class. They have the cafeteria because the class is a large one and the kids in K and Pre-K go to school every day. Allison also coordinated the before care and after care programs. She’s working very hard through everything going on.