BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01004 The office continues to come together. I was able to put some of the artwork up on the walls. I did have things up but they fell because I was using command strips. I think they hold more than they can. Allison would be shocked to hear me admit that. The command strips are working well to hold up all of the Funko Pops that I have, though. With the Hulkbuster all lit up now the other bay looks a little dark. I will have to remedy that. I also have to check out the light kit for the Voltron figure that I have. It is also in a good spot where I could power that and have it lit up as well. I thought of taking this photo because I used the GoPro MAX and it has a super wide angle lens. I figured I could capture most everything in the office except for what was behind me.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01003 I received a BriksMax Lighting kit for the Iron Man Hulkbuster Ultron Edition LEGO set for free from Lightailing. Opinions are my own.One of my favorite display pieces on my desk is the Iron Man Hulkbuster set. This is the Ultron Edition set and it was rather expensive. It is huge and looks incredible. I added a little taplight into the bay where it lives to give it some good lighting but it was far from perfect. What if the set could be lit up on the set itself? That is what the folks from Lightailing (https://www.lightailing.com/), do. They sell lighting kits for tons of LEGO sets. When the box arrived I gave it a quick open to see the contents. There were a couple of full color instruction books as well as several clearly marked plastic resealable bags that contained the led lights, wires, additional LEGO bricks and power brick. The kit can be powered by 3 AA batteries in the power brick or with a USB plug. I am very fortunate that my desk setup has the bay wh...

We received an advanced .PDF copy of this comic book for review purposes. Opinions are our own. When the introduction of a comic book speaks so strongly to your daughter that she devours the entire book in a night, you know that you have something great on your hands. That was the experience my daughter had in reading Wonderful Women of the World a compilation of stories of 23 influential women. Each story is done by a different writing and artistic team. Here are some of those women and the teams that brought their stories to the pages of the book. Women profiled and creative teams below: Beyoncé – Writer: Mikki Kendall / Artist: A D’Amico Edith Windsor – Writer: Amanda Deibert / Artist: Cat Staggs Francisca Nneka Okeke – Writer: Sheena Howard / Artist: Laylie Frazier Greta Thunberg – Writer: Kami Garcia / Artist: Igzell Judith Heumann – Writer: Marieke Nijkamp / Artist: Ashanti Fortson Khatijah Mohamad Yusoff – Writer: Amanda Deibert / Artist: Hanie Mohd Keiko Agena – Writer: Sarah K...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01002 Today is National Son Day. As with the other day being National Daughter day, today I celebrate my son. Andy is one super sweet kid. He’s funny and kind. Spends way too much time playing Roblox but he’s playing with his friends so he’s getting some good bonding time with them. He’s always thinking of new jokes to tell. He’s become very responsible and he’s very smart. The other day he negotiated allowances for he and his sister. We had a nice long discussion on what allowances will be used for and how the money will be divided each month. He listened and offered questions and was very mature about it. The other night at dinner he told us about an incident at school where a friend was saying some disrespectful things and Andy called him out on it. That takes courage to stand up to your friends and call them out when they are not being as kind and respectful as they should be. It makes me very proud to hear that Andy was able to do that. He’s growing up and he’s be...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01001 Funko often sends me figures for free to review. Opinions are my own. I’ve been a fan of Transformers since I was 10 years old and they debuted in 1984. They have been my go to toys for so much of my life. One of the coolest characters was Soundwave. He spoke with a synthesized voice and had five (original) cassette tapes that went with him everywhere and were housed inside his tape deck chest cavity. They were Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Frenzy, Rumble and of course Ravage. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw were both birds and were repaints of each other. Frenzy and Rumble were little robots that were also repaints. These characters often had their names and colors mixed up in the comics and the cartoons. Ravage was the only one that didn’t have a repaint. The Jumbo Funko Pop! is of Soundwave and it comes with the tapes for Laserbeak, Frenzy, Rumble and Ravage. No Buzzsaw, the most overlooked of the tapes, he disappeared from the show and Laserbeak was the one most often featured. ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01000 We received the CorningWare® French White® White Cast Aluminum 5.5-quart Dutch Oven with Lid for free for review purposes. Opinions are my own. Tonight Allison made Pot Roast for dinner in the new Dutch Oven that we just received. I have not had a pot roast this tender in such a long time. It was melt in your mouth perfection. We will certainly be using this more in the future.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00999 Today is National Daughter Day. I have been blessed with one spectacular daughter. She is smart, creative and kind. She is always working one one project or another. She can sew, paint, create with pop tabs from sodas and more. She’s working on several projects at once, reading all the time and has good taste in TV shows. We can talk about anything and trade punches and kicks all the time. She’s grown in maturity and confidence as she has progressed in Krav Maga. There are so many great things ahead for her.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00998 General Mills knows how much I love Lucky Charms cereal. The recently sent me a care package of eight bags of their marshmallows. So, now when I have Lucky Charms I can add some additional marshmallows to the bowl. Today I made a video of the Lucky Charms Funko Pop! figure that I received from Funko. I enjoyed a bowl of Lucky Charms while I made the video and this image was used as my background. The spoon is from General Mills, too. Here is the video.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00997 Eva has been working really hard in Krav Maga. Today she received her green belt. This is the last belt in the three month rotation. When she earns her brown belt she starts the six month rotation. I’ve seen her grow in her skill and confidence so much in the past year. She’s made friends in her classes. This Summer Eva went to morning classes with me and worked with the daughter of one of the women in my class. They became friends and do a great job working with each other. Her friend also pushes her to work harder in the class and you can see how much she has improved. She is very committed to her training and it shows. She’s always happy on Krav days and says that the dojo is her favorite place to be. She’s even gotten comfortable with her instructor’s humor. She was very intimidated at first but is no longer as timid. She gets to help demonstrate once in a while and no longer gets totally embarrassed about it. I am so excited to see how far she goes with this...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00996 I have a lot of Funko Pop figures. The folks from Funko have been working with me and sending me some great figures for me to review and so many of these on this wall are from them. I have three in my possession now that I need to make videos about and then they will also go on the wall. Yes, I have been affixing them to the wall with command strips. This appears so be working out fairly well so far. A couple of my Transformers ones, not pictures, did fall down but I figured that I did not press the command strips down tightly enough so I opened each from the bottom and pressed down the command strips and then put the Pops back inside the boxes and they then stayed up. I’ll be adding to the wall a lot more as I go forward and even get some of my other Pops that have been put away for lack of room to display them. I’m just not sure what to do with the ones that no longer have boxes. I didn’t start with keeping the boxes on them. I probably should have.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00995 LEGO has put out some new LEGO sets for Marvel. They have been putting out some based on the first 10 years of Marvel movies called The Infinity Saga. These sets span the ten years to pull from any of the movies that have been released. While three out of the four of these are pretty much from Infinity War and Endgame the one with Iron Monger is from the first Iron man movie. I always enjoy getting another Iron man type set with a new mech. I look forward to building these. I have also seen some sets base don the What If series and plan to pick up the Iron Man on Saakar one. It has another Hulkbuster type mech but with a more colorful look.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00994 There was a fundraiser for the school tonight at the Towne Tavern, a new restaurant in the Triboro plaza. There have been many restaurants there over time and this is the latest one. The food there was very good, I meant to grab a photo fo the chicken and waffles that Allison and I shared but I was too late. I almost missed this Mac and Cheese that Andy had. We also shared a giant pretzel which came with a warm beer cheese. Andy liked it so much he kept the rest of it for his Mac and Cheese and made it a more fancy giant mac and cheese. He had said that he wanted the adult sized one but we had him get the kids one and then learned that they were both the same size. The mac and cheese was giant!

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00993 Eva went to the Thrift store today and came home with this t-shirt because she, like me, loves a good pun. This one was great. We’ll have to hit a Mexican restaurant for tacos soon so she can wear it.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00992 A while ago I was finally able to place an order to get one of the standard Gigawatt figures. There had been a special 1985 version but it sold out almost immediately. I would have liked to have been able to find that version but it was not to be. I am happy that I actually did secure one of these. I love both Back to the Future and Transformers. This crossover is a great one and the figure is a cool one in an old school Transformers type box. The box even has tech specs on the back! I love it! IDW has even made a comic book series. It is a fun one and this is an awesome figure.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00991 The fine folks from General Mills sent me a Lucky Charms care package for free. They occasionally send me new products and this was a doozy! Also, the equally fine folks from Funko sent me a Lucky Charms POP! figure for free to review. Opinions of these products are my own. My absolute favorite, hands down cereal is Lucky Charms. When I often have the opportunity to review new General Mills products and I received an email that an amazing thing was headed my way with regards to Lucky Charms I was excited. The box arrived today and inside there were 8 packages of Lucky Charms marshmallows. Only the marshmallows. It was crazy! That is a ton of marshmallows! I have to get some Lucky Charms to add them to it and maybe make a Lucky Charms cake or cupcakes or something. As luck would have it I had selected the Lucky Charms Funk POP! figure to review and that cute little anthropomorphic box went perfectly with the marshmallows. This little guy s holding a spoon and a m...

We received a free download code of the new game WarioWare: Get It Together! for the Nintendo Switch from Nintendo. Opinions are our own. Constant movement and crazy action await in WarioWare: Get It Together!, the latest game form Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. In the game you control Wario and his friends in a never ending series of micro games. I say micro not mini because these games can last mere seconds. Constant action is what is happening here. There are also many friends of Wario that are there to help and each one has their own special ability. One can jump very high, another never stops moving and can throw boomerangs that you can control and yet another cannot move but can fire a grappling hook at rings in order to move around the screen. Andy and I played this game for a while and it was crazy and silly and super fun. We’ll definitely be going back to it to play even more and maybe pull Allison and Eva into the frenetic insanity. There are over 200+ of these micro games...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00990 Eva has been busy painting more projects lately. She has a couple happening at the same time. One looks like it will b some sort of crystal ball, the other is a play on a logo of a YouTuber that she enjoys. She also must be genetically disposed to using butter dishes for anything other than butter. She puts her unused paints back in the dish to mix them together to paint the sides of canvases.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00989 I leased a new car a few weeks ago and it has pretty much everything I want. It definitely has everything I need. The car runs android Auto so I can play Spotify, Audible, Google Maps and more. It has a backup camera for precisely backing into spots and alerting me to things behind the car. It has lane assist warnings in case I miss something in my blindspot. There are many excellent features. I also love the look of the car overall, it is very sporty. I did add a few things to it, though. Android Auto only works if the phone is physically connected to the car with a USB cable. I have a ton of cables but they are all way too big and when the cable is connected to the phone and the phone is on its little built in shelf it barely fit. So, I looked into right angle USB cables. I searched them on Amazon.com because I could not find them in stores. I found a set of three of them that were very short but perfect for my needs. I hate having a mass of cables in the way s...

I received a digital and a physical copy of this graphic novel for free from DC Comics to read and review. Opinions are my own. Unearthed: A Jessica Cruz Story is a super hero story of a different sort. Jessica is not off fighting aliens and super villains in this one. This is a much more grounded story that is so relevant to today. Jessica is finding her life turned upside down and pulled in many directions at once. She is working hard at a special fellowship. she studies hard and gets good grades, she takes care of her parents and her home by cooking and cleaning. She’s even preparing to apply for college. However, forces outside of herself are in motion to turn her world upside-down. I’m not talking Darkseid or Grail here either. These forces are racism, nationalism and fear. the official description of the comic is this: “Unearthed is the first graphic novel from acclaimed YA author Lilliam Rivera (Never Look Back) and rising illustrator Steph C., featuring a reimagined origin ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00988 The folks from Funko send me a few figures for free every couple of months to check out and review. Opinions are my own.Whenever I get the chance to choose some Funko Pop! figures to review I make sure that I see if there are any in the Retro Toys line because I am a child of the 80’s and so many of my favorite 80’s toys have made their way into the Funko family! G.I.JOE is one of those toy franchises and most recently I saw that there was a Snake eyes with Timber figure. I knew I had to ask for that one because Snake Eyes was always the coolest character. He was a silent ninja with a timber wolf as his friend. This is something the movies never got right but I am glad that Funko did. The set has Snake Eyes in a posed with his two katana swords, his face shield, bandolier of grenades and black costume. He looks perfect. Timber is fierce but I am not sure about the blood, I think it is blood, on either side of his lips. Despite that Timber looks great. He is read...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00987 Occasionally Allison will call me into Andy’s room at night before we sleep. She wants me to see how he’s sleeping or some cute thing he is doing while asleep. Lately he’s been going from his top bunk to the bottom futon to the floor to his bean bag chair on a strange rotation. Tonight he’s on his bean bag chair while holding his two favorite stuffed animals. He’s always been a good one about going to bed and getting to sleep quickly. I hope that trend continues even if he is our early riser.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00986 Eva has been hard at work creating a costume for King Richard’s Faire. She created and sewed this costume herself from scratch. She told me that this year she really wants to interact more with the cast around the realm. We received some free passes to attend and just have to find a good weekend to do it. Eva’s next project is a peasant shirt for Andy. I love how talented and creative she is.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00985 Last weekend we were at a Target and I saw that there was this special Hot Wheels car that was a Pixar Easter Egg from the movie Brave. When Merida talks to the witch the witch was whittling a little toy car of the Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story. I’ve never seen a Hot Wheels car that looks like it was a wooden toy car. I had to pick it up. I do enjoy that this was actually made. so very cool.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00984 Eva has been painting a lot on canvas lately. she made this adorable mushroom for her friend’s birthday. She is always coming up with something artistic to work on. It can be sewing, jewelry making, painting, so many other things.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00983 Ever since we moved in to our house 10 years ago the stop sign at the end of the street was pink. It was so faded. This morning the DPW was out digging up the street and putting a new stop sign in place. However, the concrete needed time to set before the full size pole could go up. So, when Allison got home there was this tiny stop sign on the ground. We got a kick out of that one.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00982 July always starts a slump for me regarding creating videos, especially gaming videos. I spend much of that month on Cape Cod and am not at my recording setup so I get behind and for things that happen daily in gaming, that tends to get me way behind. Viewers drop off and more. So, seeing the numbers drop off can be depressing and that starts me thinking is the hard work worth it. So, I hit a slump. With everyone back at school I have more time to work on these videos and so I’m getting back into it. The season is finishing up for Fortnite and that means a new one is starting soon and I have another chance to rebuild my audience. Along the way I lost my setup on my old computer, replaced that computer with a faster one to make better videos, experimented with different programs to get the best output and I think I am finally there. So, here’s to keeping on.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00981 I picked up my new car today. Last week I went and set up a new lease on a Kia Forte. This is a 2021 Kia Forte GT. It was a little more than a standard Forte and has some extras that I am really enjoying. I had been following the Kia website for our local dealership for a few weeks and they finally got some new cars in stock. They had a blue one and since that is my favorite color I decided to get that one. I’ve had 3 Kia Forte’s so far and two out of the three have been blue. Prior to the Forte I had a Honda Civic that was also blue. Blue is the color for me. I like how this looks, it also has the back up camera and a big screen for the infotainment applications. I can connect android Auto to the car and will be able to listen to my podcasts and more. there is even a little shelf above the USB plug for my phone. This will keep things nice and neat in the car. We picked this up after school and karate today. Andy retested for his white stripe and he earned that a...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00980 We headed home from Connecticut today. We drove up 195 to Wareham to meet my parents and pick up the kids. We enjoyed a lunch at Red Robin and then headed home. It was good to see Mom and Dad and enjoy lunch together. The kids had a great time visiting with them. Andy and Eva both got to spend time with their grandparents, cousins and also their friends. Andy made a new friend, too. They told us all about it at lunch. Andy also did a lot of training with Eva to work at earning his white and blue stripes at karate. This past Thursday he did not earn his white stripe because his details were not up to par. So he was very disappointed but Mr. Brochu talked with him and reassured him that we all believed in him and given some practice he could not only earn his white stripe but his blue stripe this coming week. Andy handled it very well and he practiced with Eva each day that we were away. Mr. Brochu allowed us to record the form so that Andy could work from that as ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00979 Part of the reason that I had selected a hotel off-site from the casino was that I wanted for us to do some exploring in the area and since Allison is a fan of wines I decided that we should visit a vineyard. I found a few and sent them to Allison to check out and she chose Saltwater Farm Vineyard. This was a really interesting place. It used to be an airport and the airplane hanger was converted into the main building of the vineyard. They do weddings her also. It is also a vineyard that is one the water. The lines of grape vines run from the hanger down to the water. We arrived and Allison got a glass of wine and we bought crackers and a edge of cheddar cheese with blueberries in it. We went upstairs to a porch that overlooked the grounds. While we were there I overhead someone being asked if anyone famous had ever been married there. It was a cast member from Boy Meets World. I did a search online and I am pretty sure that I figured out who it was and that was...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00978 This morning we headed down to Foxwoods Casino for a couple of days to celebrate our 15th/16th wedding anniversary. Today was our day to spend at G Spa. This is a spa inside the Fox Tower. By getting services at the spa we had use of the pool and sauna and other amenities. We got there a bit ahead of our couple’s massage and so we used the hot tub and the pool to relax after the drive. The spa also had outside balconies if we wanted to hang out there as well. Our couple’s massage was an 80 minute massage and it was very relaxing. Afterwards we received champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. We enjoyed those and then Allison had a manicure and a pedicure to go to while I was free to use the amenities of the spa. There is a men’s section and a women’s section. Locker rooms that had things like whirlpools, saunas, showers, a television and seating area and more. They also had shaving cream and disposable razors. I had the time, so I meticulously shaved my fac...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00977 The pandemic delayed our 15th anniversary plans by a year. Allison and I had plans last year at this time to go and see Gabriel Iglesias at Foxwoods. Gabriel is one of our favorite comedians and I saw that he was coming to Foxwoods close to our 15th anniversary (well within a couple months, so, close enough). I had also received a gift card from Nintendo for a campaign I had done around Ring Fit Adventure. The gift card was for any spa that I wanted so I looked up the spa at Foxwoods and had them get me a card for that spa. But before we get to the adventure ahead we had to drop the kids off with my parents for the weekend so that we could have a kid free weekend away. We drove the kids down to the Cape this morning and then we headed home with the intention of having lunch at Evelyn’s Drive In. I like to get there every couple of years or so to get a seafood platter because their fried food is incredible. Also, it is right on the water so the view is excellent a...

We missed out on King Richard’s Faire last year because of the pandemic. This year we won’t be able to go to Carvershire because I have to take all my remaining vacation time to prepare for my black belt test. However, you do not have to miss out on the fun of King Richard’s Faire because it is returning for the 40th season of fun and festivities! We will get ourselves back to the Faire in the 2022 season, though. The kids love it there and so do we. More information about the return of the Faire below. King Richard’s Faire celebrates 40 th season as New England’s largest and longest-running Renaissance festival in Carver, Mass. Anniversary season runs weekends September 4-October 24 Including Labor Day and Columbus Day Monday Holidays CARVER, Mass. – New Englanders have never been so eager to go back to a gentler, happier time and escape reality. This fall, New England’s largest and longest running Renaissance Faire is ready to open wide the gates starting Saturday, September 4 th and...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00976 General Mills Cereal often sends me new products for free to check out. These are my own opinions. Did you know that in addition to Count Chocula, Boo Berry and Franken Berry there were two other monsters in the General Mills Cereal Lineup? There were! There were Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy. This year General Mills got the gang, or rather the band, back together for The Monster Mash cereal. They even made a funny behind the music type video about the band including the two members who have been missing for some time now. as far as the cereal itself is concerned, it is okay. I think that General Mills could have really gone a lot further with it and put in the Count Chocula cereal pieces so that the cereal was both berry and chocolate flavored. There certainly could have been more marshmallows, too. The marshmallows were what really represented all the different monsters. I had the cereal as is and then I added the Reese’s Puffs Bats to it on the second bowl. Ther...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00975 Today was the first day of school for the 2021-2022 school year. This is also Eva’s last year at the school. Where has the time gone? It certainly feels like only yesterday we were bringing her for her first day of Kindergarten. I dropped everyone off this morning because we are down to one car at the moment. We recently sold the car that we had started leasing on Eva’s first day of Kindergarten all those years ago. After dropping everyone off at school I went to the Kia dealership and set up a lease of a new car for myself so that next week we will be a two car family again. The kids had a half day today so I picked them up after noontime and after they had walked our friend Colleen’s dog. Both kids were pretty excited for their day back at school. Andy was really thrilled with being back with his friends. He was bubbling with excitement over his day. I hope that both kids have a great year and Allison too. she’s going to be very busy with multiple rooms, after ...