BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00974 The other day I took Andy to Michael’s to use some of his gift cards from birthday and Christmas. While we were there he chose to pick up some different colored candy melts so that he could make some cookies. He wanted to dip one half in one color and the other half in another and then drizzle some of the melted candy across the top. We convinced him that maybe dipping both sides might be a bit much and so he could dip one half and then drizzle with the other color. I think we have to work on the consistency of the melted candy to make it actually drizzle because when I tried to drizzle the orange on the cookies it plopped down on the cookie and looked like the bill of a duck. So they came out looking like some crazy duck cookies. We didn’t mind because they tasted really good.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00973 Occasionally Funko provides me with some products for free to review. Opinions are my own. There has been a resurgence of interest in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe which also includes She-Ra. The kids and I loved the She-Ra series on Netflix. It was modern and updated and full of fun characters who had more of their backstories explored. When I saw that Funko had a She-Ra and Swift Wind Pop Rides figure coming out I knew I had to review it. This is a solid heavy figure with excellent detail on both She-Ra and Swift Wind. The dynamic posing shows She-Ra and Swift Wind in flight. She-Ra’s cape flowing out behind her under her long flowing hair. Swift Wind’s Battle Armor looks great, too. While I do like the more colorful look of Swift Wind from the remake series and his super funny personality, I do like how this one is quite true to the She-Ra version from the 80’s. This version is reminiscent of the 1985 Power Crystal version that Mattel made down to the...

I am running a giveaway for the book series, The Startup Squad. The prize is being provided by my sponsor and will be sent to the winner. Open to the US only. I just recently learned about The Startup Squad series of books. I think they would have been pretty awesome for my daughter Eva to read when she was a bit younger. They may be perfect for my niece, Kylie and I think I might be getting her a set of them to inspire her girlpreneur-ship. The Startup Squad has a pretty extensive website to help inspire girls of all ages to start businesses. Girls ages 6 to 16 who run their own business can sign up at The Startup Squad website to be featured in the Girls Mean Business Gallery, plus check out resources such as The Ultimate Business Plan for Kids and the Entrepreneurship Activity Kit! What is in the giveaway prize packet? One (1) winner will receive a boxed paperback set of all 3 books in the series, an exclusive Startup Squad tote bag, earrings, bookmark, stickers, and temporary tatto...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00972 I got a text today from my Dad. He sent an image of one of his daily journals. He would keep these and write little things in them over the years. He had the page from August 29, 1981. The page said, “ Went to Falmouth – spent 1st night in house at Grand Ave. Fantastic – water view from every bedroom – Kids thought it was great. It’s such a joy to see the enjoyment they feel. ” I love that my dad does this. While most of the things written in the journals have to do with the work he did that day but often there are moments of insight about our lives. This was our 40th Summer at the house. We have been very fortunate to spend so many years at this house. We started it as a Bed & Breakfast and my parents ran it as that in order to afford living there. We started off sleeping in the attic for several years. As the years went on we took in fewer and fewer guests and each kid slept in their own rooms on the second floor. Now we have rooms for ourselves and our own...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00971 Eva has been painting today. She is working on this half Sun, half Moon painting. She got the idea from Pinterest and decided to make her own. I am looking forward to seeing her final piece. She is so creative and comes up with something new every day.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00970 A few years ago my dad helped me fix a trellis at the house and we noticed that the wisteria had overtaken the top of the trellis. The wisteria has pulled one of the top spires of the trellis off and completely wrapped around it. I thought it would look pretty cool with the sunlight behind it. the middle is a giant screw and it was just yanked off the top of the trellis. I’m sure that the Wisteria has wrapped itself around much more. I’ve got to cut it way back soon.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00969 I took Andy to Michael’s today so that he could use some gift cards. He wanted to pick up some Perler beads. He’s been excited about creating something special with the beads and of course, because he is Andy, he’s coming up with everything right out of his head. His tiger turned out nice. He also made the Mr Beast symbol, a YouTuber that he likes. He crossed that with a heart. So half-heart and half-Mr. Beast symbol. He certainly has his YouTube faves. Andy also picked up some vanilla candy melts so that he could make some special cookies next week. We talked it over as we walked through the store together. He’s always got good ideas, just needs to be supervised for much of them.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00968 Tonight we hosted a cook out with my friend Frank and his family. He, his wife and his daughter came for dinner. His son had an event, though. I picked up burgers and dogs from Chartley Country Store and Allison made corn on the cob, potato salad, pasta salad, beans and coleslaw. They brought along a great variety of cupcakes for dessert. We had a great night and the girls got along so well together. All Eva had to do was pull out her phone and Frank’s daughter noticed her Percy Jackson phone cover. Next thing I knew they were talking up a storm all the rest of the night. It was really nice to get together with Frank and his family. I am glad that we were able to do this. So many times people say that they will get together and they never do. It had been years since we had gotten together at all and a couple times this year is really doing well. I hope that we hit a movie together soon and do Frank’s podcast, Silver Screeners.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00967 The other day I sent Sensei Howard at America’s Best Defense a message telling him about what the kids did this Summer as far as raising movie for Tommy’s Place in Falmouth. I also mentioned that after the rock sale Andy suggested that the kids go around the neighborhood and place rocks on people’s steps and around their flowers to that they could find them and it would make them smile. Sensei Howard was impressed with what the kids did and told me that there would be something special for them at the front desk the next time we went to classes. When we went to class today we were presented with a check for Tommy’s Place. Andy also received the spirit patch and his instructors had him stand up in front of everyone while they told everyone about the rock sale and that was why he was getting a spirit patch. Sensei Howard gave one to Eva as well. She’s going to put hers on her krav bag. Andy’s Karate Gi top is going to be filled with patches because he also got the ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00966 Tonight we watched Marvel Avengers: Infinity War. Still working on getting Eva through all the movies. Her best friend has already told her what happens in each one but that did not matter to Eva. when things happened that she knew were coming she still reacted to them as though she was not already aware of where things were going. Infinity War is a tough one because so many things happen in it and a lot of bad stuff happens to The Avengers. There are more movies left for her to watch so that she can be up to speed with them all. We learned last night after the movie that the Spider-Man no Way Home trailer had dropped and that one looks amazing. We may have to add all the Spider-Man movies that came before to our watch list before December.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00965 We received a copy of The Unofficial Hogwarts Cookbook for Kids for free to review and enjoy. Opinions are our own.Getting my son excited about dinner can be a challenge. The thing that has helped the most is involving him in the meal preparation. When Andy can help out he’s more than happy to eat the meal. He loves learning to prep meals and his skills are getting better. The Unofficial Hogwarts Cookbook for Kids had a ton of great recipes. Andy read through the whole thing and picked out two recipes to make for dinner tonight. He picked a meal and also a dessert. He chose Bubble and Squeak for dinner and The Knickerbocker Glory for dessert. Andy was working well with the knife and cutting up the carrots for the Bubble and Squeak. This was a a good recipe for including veggies which is another thing that kids should be eating. Andy is also good at measuring out ingredients. Andy is skilled at making omelets. They are his favorite thing. He can make them on his o...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00964 Eva has been busy this weekend. She made herself this outfit our of Andy’s old comforter. She made a whole bunch of other items with other materials as well. She is very quick about all the things that she creates. Her skill is getting better and better.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00963 The fine folks from Playmobil sent me several set of their Dino Rise series for free in a large mystery box so that I could unbox them for you and then provided reviews of each set. This review is of the set Deinonychus: Ready for Battle (70629) and also Pteranodon: Drone Strike (70628) I love PLAYMOBIL. My cousin had a bunch of it growing up and I loved playing at his house because we had such fun creating stories and playing. I would have been all over this new series called Dino Rise because we have armored dinosaurs vs giant mechs! There is a whole backstory around the series that I explore in the unboxing videos below. Take a look at each one. I also did one for the Pteranodon: Drone Strike (70628). This set had more pieces than the first one. I love the Pteranodon, Donnie. And here is the unboxing video.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00962 It has been a long time but today we went to Capron Park Zoo. There has been a fun an exhibit in the Zoo for a while. It is called Brick Live and the installation is of life sized animals made from LEGO bricks. Allison and I had seen them being installed and we notice them when we walk around the park. We had every intention to go see this before today but never got around to it. Today we went and the kids had a great time. We used to go to the zoo all the time when the kids were little. It was nice to walk around and talk about the kids about their memories at the zoo. There were a few exhibits that I really liked. Near the end of our time at the zoo we saw that there was even a LEGO Jeep for the kids to sit in. It made me think of all the times that I had taken the kids to the zoo and they loved to play with the ride on coin-op toys. My favorite one of the exhibits was the LEGO Tiger. We can see that one through the fence from the park.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00961 I received some promo material and a digital copy of the Snake Eyes G.I.JOE Origins movie. Opinions are my own. Snake Eyes from G.I.JOE is a fan favorite and when the first couple of live action G.I.JOE movies came out fans were a bit disappointed in them. Me, I enjoyed the first one, wasn’t a huge fan of the second one for killing off major characters. Snake Eyes did look cool, though. they had the amazing Ray Park as the silent master. The most recent movie is a stand alone for the origin of Snake Eyes. In all honesty, I didn’t love it as a G.I.JOE movie but I did enjoy it for the action sequences. Some really amazing fighting sequences were done for this movie and they looked amazing. However, there are some major points to the Snake Eyes story that I don’t feel they hit very well. Snake Eyes, at least for me, never really gets to that level of amazing though any work at the Arashikage clan’s compound. Then the place looks like it is in the modern world but th...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00960 Nintendo sent me a free copy of Game Builder Garage so that I could play and review. Opinions are my own. Game Builder Garage is a fun interactive way to discover game design through guided lessons. In this game you will meet the Nodon, characters that are behind every aspect of game building. When you tap into the programming power of Nodon you’ll learn the secrets of building your own games from scratch! When I was a kid I taught myself how to program BASIC just so I could make an 8×8 set of pixels look like a little guy and make him dance. Wow, things have changed and my own kids have an incredible tool at their disposal to create their very own video games. Game Builder Garage is a powerful tool for learning how to code and for making fun and exciting games all by yourself. Andy has had so much fun making different games and he loves to show his friends and family each one that he creates. I’m very envious of that. Had I had this game as a kid I may have been...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00959 Playmobil sent us a huge box of their latest toy series, Dino Rise for free to play with and review. They arrived in a gigantic box and I had to unbox it for all to see on my YouTube channel. I will be doing individual unboxings and buildings of each of the sets plus a set from another series called Stunt Show from PLAYMOBIL. Here is my unboxing video. More about each of the sets that we received as well as some Amazon.com affiliate links that will help us out if you use them to make purchases. PLAYMOBIL Dino Rise T-Rex: Battle of the Giants (70624) The T-Rex: Battle of the Giants has begun! A robot machine is on a destructive path and the dino-human team must stop them. Equipped with removable armor and functioning cannons, Ian rides on the back of the T-Rex to shoot down enemies and direct the dino to take down the robot machine. As the deinonychus fires its functioning cannons, the T-Rex uses its arm to catapult a barrel towards the robot/ What an exciting bat...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00958 I’ve been getting into the stories about the Drow (a dark elf) named Drizzt Do’Urden and his ethereal plane panther, Guenhwyvar. I’m so into the stories by R.A. Salvatore that I have decided that our next cat will be all black and will be named Guenhwyvar. I saw that there was this new Funko Pop figure set of Drizzt and Guenhwyvar and I had to order it. It will make a great addition to my collection. That goes along with the Magic the Gathering set I picked up that has a Dungeons & Dragons component to it including cards that have D&D characters. I have not seen the other three characters from the Dark Alliance Series, though.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00957 Today was Free Comic Book Day and as is tradition with me and the kids we headed to Wild Time Comics. There we were each able to pick 5 of the free books. We also picked up some other books for Andy. It was great for us to find some graphic novels that he would be excited to read. There were some fun things to do at the event today. There were cosplayers and also some cool vehicles. The kids posed near the Batmobile. Eva posed with at least one cosplayer but Andy was standoffish after seeing some of the animatronic items. There are some scary villains and such there. Andy is not a fan and when that happens he doesn’t want to do anything further. He still had fun but just wasn’t in to getting any photos with the cosplayers, even Batman and the Batman was a really good one.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00956 On our last day at the Cape we started with a nice walk in the morning. This is a great place to walk and we enjoy it each morning that we are on Cape Cod. It is a 3 mile loop for us to do and the view is amazing. One of my favorite places near our house.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00955 Today we took my Dad on a kayak trip for his birthday. Yes, his birthday was back in June but we finally got to do that trip today. It is like we have 3 weeks on the Cape but when we go down for 3 days we cram everything we tried to do in those previous 3 weeks. We had a very nice day to do the trip except that it was a bit windy. I say a bit windy and I mean Windy. Our initial paddle out to the point of an island was leisurely and nice then over to the bridge near Monument beach was also nice and easy. However, once we turned around it was wind pushing at us all the way. We had two doubles and a bunch of singles. There were nine of us in total including four kids. Eva was in her own boat and Andy started out in his own but he swapped with Dylan on the way back. I also swapped with my dad and took the double kayak and Andy rode in front. Paddling back in the double was a workout but it was fun overall. I got a video of the paddle using my GoPro Hero MAX.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00954 The kids have been painting rocks all Summer long. Tara and Shelby also painted many rocks. Today the kids held a special rock sale to raise money for Tommy’s Place, a vacation home for kids fighting cancer located in Falmouth, MA. They were also raising the donation in memory of a family friend, Alice Doucette. There is actually a room in Tommy’s Place called Alice’s Room that was named for her. They sold the rocks and lemonade on the side yard. Later on they took the wagon and went up and down the beach raising $50 there. The kids also had deals with their grandparents in that whatever they raised would be matched by them. Well, the grandparents got more than they bargained for because these kids raised a huge sum of money. They raised $441. So, there is going to be a big chunk of change being donated. I posted this photo to Facebook and added a donation button for Tommy’s Place and we raised an additional $85. There were other donations as well. I am so proud ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00953 On the way to the Cape today we stopped off at a couple of places. First we stopped at Cape Cod Kayak to pay for the trip we are taking on Thursday with the family. Then we went to Somerset Creamery for ice cream. We each got a small ice cream in a waffle cone. I had peanut butter Oreo and it was awesome! A great flavor I will definitely get again. Allison got the cranberry bog, her favorite there and Eva got cookie dough. Andy went with a watermelon sherbet. After the ice cream we headed to the house. The kids had a pizza party on the beach and so did we. The pizza party for the kids was for a celebration before the Swim Meet tomorrow. the kids had a lot of fun and we enjoyed a nice pizza party on the beach thanks to my sister and her husband.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00952 Playmobil sent me a couple boxes of their latest toys. I received the Playmobil Stunt Show Shark Monster Truck and a box of Dino rise toys. I’ll be unboxing them soon and will put that up on our YouTube Channel.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00951 We received a copy of City of Dragons: The Awakening Storm for free to read and review. Opinions are our own. When we received this book I gave it to Andy to read. I’m always looking for new and interesting things for Andy. He’s more of a reluctant reader and because of that he doesn’t often pick up a book on his own to read. He does enjoy comics and graphic novels, though. He also enjoys fantasy and dragons so this was a great graphic novel for him to start reading. He completed the book in a day and really enjoyed it. When he was finished I took up the book and read it. I enjoyed the overall story and the characters. This is also the first book in a new series and it sets up the subsequent books very well. there is plenty of mystery, humor and heart in the book, too. Plus, did I mention Dragons! Our main character, Grace is a strong female character who suffers a major loss in her life. A few years later she moves to Hong Kong. there she meets new friends Rames...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00950 I’ve been playing a lot of Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance. I’ve also been listening to the R.A. Salvatore novels about Drizzt Do’Urden, a Drow. A Drow is a Dark Elf. The more I listen to the books the more I like this character and it is so fun to play as Drizzt in Dark Alliance. So far I have listened to three books and am now on another trilogy that really delves into the four characters of the Dark Alliance game. I just picked up a set of Magic the Gathering cards that feature Dungeons & Dragons the Forgotten Realms and that also features Drizzt Do’Urden. It will be fun to play.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00949 I added a couple new things to my collection of TMNT toys on my desk at work. I figure since I have to come in and sit at a desk and do a job that I can do from home I might as well enjoy my desk. Tonight I found some new TMNT Hot Wheels vehicles. They had the whole set of 5 which were all 4 turtles plus the party wagon.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00948 We received a free review copy of THE MYSTERY MEANEST TEACHER: A JOHNNY CONSTANTINE GRAPHIC NOVEL from DC comics to read and review. Opinions are our own. My wife and I are fans of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on the CW. There is a character that has become part of the team called John Constantine. He’s a magic user who is mostly selfish but eventually he ends up doing the right thing. Most of the time. In this graphic novel for ages 8-12 we have Johnny Constantine or rather, Kid as he likes being called. Johnny doesn’t have his cigarette addiction but instead it is all candy like lollipops. Of course he messes things up by eating some particularly important chocolate and has to flee to America. there in Massachusetts he meets Anna who is also a magic user. School isn’t any fun for this new kid and this outsider. Things get even worse when the history teacher takes an immediate dislike to Johnny. There is much more going on than meets the eye and it is up to Johnny a...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00947 Tonight we took the kids to see The Jungle Cruise at The Mendon Drive In. This is a really nice place with a great atmosphere. It was mid week so it was not that packed and we had plenty of room to spread out. It was raining so we did not spread out at all. Allison and I stayed under the over of the rear hatch of the car and the kids stayed inside. We got there fairly early and finished playing a game of Phase 10 that we had started the night before. That is a rather long game to play. In the end we simply finished it. No need to declare a winner. FYI: – it was me. I got some popcorn and we enjoyed some candy and ice cream right before the movie started. We only stayed for the first movie because that one finished around 11pm. That and we had already seen Black Widow and Andy was not going to stay up or want to watch that. We had a nice family night and enjoyed our time there. the rain never did get too bad until we headed home. then it poured and poured. the Jun...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00946 We went on a walk the other morning and as we walked around the Attleboro gardening club space Allison nearly stepped on this moth. It was on the ground attempting to fly. It stayed still for a moment and I snapped this photo. It is a very beautiful moth. I cannot specifically tell you which type of moth it is but I do like how it looks. the marking look like eyes. Andy said that it made him think of an owl for some reason. Because it is Summer the karate and krav classes are earlier for the kids. Eva went with me to the morning class and was paired up with my friend’s daughter. We worked this out ahead of time as this was he way we could get both girls to come to class. As long as they did not have to partner with adults they were fine to come to class. I know that Eva liked the intensity of class this morning, it was a a lot of fun. I also like that she gets a little extra time in class because my class is a longer one overall. Andy had class right at the end o...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00945 We received a free advanced review copy of I Am Not Starfire from DC Comics. Opinions are our own. I am glad that my daughter enjoys reading comic books. I am always on the lookout for books that she would enjoy. I know that I Am Not Starfire would be an interesting one for her. This is a coming of age story of Starfire’s daughter, Mandy. Mandy and Starfire are very dissimilar. Starfire is tall, beautiful and bubbly. She always appears to be friendly and happy. Mandy is short, a hormonal teen, angry, angsty and mad at the world. She doesn’t fit in at school or home. At first she loved being the daughter of Starfire and she was happy. However, things began to change as she became a teen. She dyed her hair black, wore mostly black and became very, very sarcastic. Mandy’s only friends are Lincoln at school and her pet bird Joannie. She even has an Instagram just for Joannie. the reason it is for Joannie is that she cannot be on social media because of all the people...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00944 This is my new setup in the office. I have my work laptop on the desk because I work from home on Sundays. I set everything up so that I always have a keyboard and a mouse/trackball at the ready. The new monitor is behind the laptop and I have my camera right below the television. With the computer over to the left side the sound from it will not cause the microphone to pick up the fan sounds on any recordings. I have a USB bank that I can plug into my desktop as well as to the work computer so that I do not have to move too much around every week. The new computer has a ton of power and I should be able to capture some really good video with the speed of this computer. At least that is the reason I bought it.