BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01035 This year’s Halloween was a bit different. I did not take any part of the night off so I did not get to go with the kids trick or treating. They still got to go, however. They went over to our friend’s house and they went trick or treating with them. From the looks of things the kids made out really well on the candy front. Andy was adorable in his Axolotl costume. He even saw another kid dressed as an axolotl, too. He went trick or treating with the kids and their dad. Eva’s good friend Maryana was trick or treating in the same neighborhood so Eva got to go with her. Eva was super excited because a kid recognized her costume and that her a huge compliment. She couldn’t wait to tell me that that had happened. And Allison got to sip wine with her friend while that all went on. Andy wanted to light up his pumpkins but we were not handing out candy so we did not leave them lit up. He got to light them for the photo and that is all. When everyone left to go trick or ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01034 Andy is so proud of his pumpkin carving. We always seem to get our pumpkins the day before or day of Halloween. Andy loves to carve pumpkins and he did a great job with them.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01033 The folks at Super Impulse sent me some of their Micro Toy Box Series 1 mystery boxes for free to unbox and review. Opinions are my own. I made a video of this new toy series for my YouTube channel. More about the mystery boxes. Super Impulse is back at it with your favorite childhood toys in a never before seen size with Micro Toy Box Series 1! Those toys you only dreamed of having can be found in one incredible, tiny toy box. Each of these mystery boxes include 5 mini toys, 1 mini sticker and 1 checklist. The clear top reveals one toy with four mystery hidden surprises inside – complete the hunt to complete your collection! Launching at Target and other major retailers, these mystery boxes consist of these iconic classics from: Mattel, Hasbro, and Spin Master including their signature brand Transformers, Rubik’s, My Little Pony, Monopoly, Nerf, Barbie, and Hot Wheels.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01032 Today we hosted a family party. We celebrated the birthdays of the kids and their cousin Kylie. Dylan has a Summer birthday. It was nice to have the whole family together. We had a nice meal and some very tasty dessert. Tara picked up cupcakes from Wildflower. They were great! The kids loved having their cousins and extended family around. We even had Lexie with us, too. Andy and I took her for a walk when Auntie Tara arrived. It was a fun night with family.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01031 I was at Target today and I found the new Batmobile from The Batman from Hot Wheels. This is probably one of the most realistic Batmobiles around. It is a heavily modified muscle car but you can still recognize it as a car. It isn’t completely outrageous. I’m a fan. I really like the look of this vehicle.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01030 the fine folks at General Mills sent me a great t-shirt for their Cereal Monsters. It is for their World Tour because now, they are a band. They sent this to me for free because I occasionally get some General Mills Cereals to review. It is Halloween so this is the perfect shirt to wear around this time of year. I love it! The shirt has great colors and an awesome image on the front. It is a great purple tie-dye with a list of all the tour locations on the back including Transylvania.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01029 We received an Instant Pot Pro for free for review. Opinions are our own. Occasionally I receive some great free products that we have been curious about using. One of those is the Instant Pot. We love our crock pot and our air fryer so another way to make some awesome meals would be The Instant Pot Pro. Both Allison and I searched for different recipes. Allison found this great Sausage and Kale soup to make for our first time using the Instant Pot Pro. She was able to brown the sausages right in the Instant Pot and we got plenty of kale from Imperfect Foods. that plus some bread made for a very happy family all around. Even the kids loved the soup for both of the days that we had it. I look forward to making more in this!

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01028 Allison made this Home sign for us. She has been making some great crafted items lately. It seems like the whole family has one project or another happening around the house. Eva is constantly creating something new. Andy always wants to cook or bake something and Allison has many crafting projects in the works and has even more projects that she is learning. I’m not sure if this will be the final location for the sign but I sort of like it there.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01027 Allison took the kids to Trunk or Treat tonight for the school. Eva has been working really hard on her costume. she is Nico di Angelo from the Percy Jackson series. She is also “in character” and is rather excited to wear this costume. Her character is broody. Her costume also includes a sword that she has been working on. Today she took the Dremel to it. she spent much of the time teaching herself how to use the Dremel but that was time well spent. She’ll have the sword completed by next weekend but the experience and knowledge of using the tool will stay with her for a long time. Allison made Andy’s costume. He is an axolotl. He loves the creatures and was so excited to have this costume. The gills are on the top of his head and he got these giant googly eyes for the costume, too. We had to special order the pink sweat suit. It looks great but it definitely makes me think of Ralphie from “A Christmas Story”. The kids and Allison just got home and they had a gr...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01026 Tonight was Parent’s Night Out at America’s Best Defense. We try and get Andy to these as often as they come up. Tonight’s theme was a zombie one and when I came to pick up Andy he was playing Red Light – Green Light to the tune of “Thriller” and all the kids were moving as if they were zombies. While Andy was at Parent’s Night Out I was at my first Boot Camp for Black Belt Testing. This will go on for the next couple of months. I was quite anxious to attend because I did not know what to expect. The first session was good. Unfortunately the guy that I had partnered with last week at the assessment ended up no longer part of the program. When I came in he was retesting his physical requirements and when all the other people who retested came back, he did not. He’s a good partner. I occasionally work with him on Saturday morning classes. So, I got a different partner. She is really working hard and helping me out. Boot Camp was tough. We worked so many of the defe...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01025 I discovered the show Letterkenny on Hulu a few months ago and went through the whole of the available episodes. There are additional seasons that are coming. When I watched the show for the first time I immediately liked it because of the strange cadence of the characters and how they spoke, teased each other and heavily used puns. This was definitely a show I could get behind. Here is my unboxing of the figures.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01024 We were given several new Cubles DIY Papercrafting toys for free to play with and review. Opinions are my own. I keep looking for new and exciting ways to interact with Andy outside of a video, tv show or game. I know that he has a creative mind and when I saw that Cubles had Andy’s favorite character from books that he reads I asked that we review this project/toy. Andy loves Dog Man books and Cubles has a Dog Man figure plus Max Meow, a book series that Andy is now interested in reading. Cubles are boxy characters that you assemble by folding paper and then connecting the pieces sort of like a puzzle. I helped Andy through a few steps of the first figure but he was ready to go immediately after the second piece. He assembled Max Meow and Dog Man in the time it took me to build the Dragon Cubles figure. Here is a full description of Cubles and what they are. Cubles are a unique mashup between origami, puzzle, toy, and craft, that promotes STEM principles. So kid...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01023 With Halloween coming I put out some of my Playmobil toys for decoration. Specifically Scooby Doo and Ghostbusters. I love how Playmobil has added the Mystery Machine and the Mystery Mansion to their lineup. Really excellent products. I am thankful to Playmobil for providing them to me.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01022 Eva is putting together a costume/cosplay for Halloween. She is going as a character named Nico di Angelo, a character from the Percy Jackson series of books. He’s soon have a one shot story with his boyfriend Will Solace. Eva has gotten a bomber jacket and more to add to her cosplay. The last thing she needs to complete the costume is a sword. So, she is crafting one for the first time. We picked up all the materials for the sword and Eva helped me cut the foam. I cemented it together with Contact Cement and picked her up a Dremel so that she could sand it down and create anything extra that she wanted for the sword. The next steps are hers to complete.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01021 I am completely floored that Eva is one year away from High School. Today we visited my Alma Mater, Bishop Feehan High School. It was Open House and it was very eye opening. I graduated 30 years ago and so much has changed at the school. For instance the building that was once the place where we took religion classes which was dubbed “Little City of God” by the students is now the arts center. If Eva decides to go to Feehan I suspect that his will be her favorite place to spend time. Watching the presentation was really interesting to me. I loved my time at Feehan, it was a fantastic school and I have always wanted my kids to go there too. However, if either decides to go to another school then that will be their decision. Eva was very interested in some of the clubs that are offered at the school. We noticed many posters all around the school for so many different clubs. I also noticed that the school had an eSports program and that was very interesting to Andy....

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01020 Today was Warrior Weekend at America’s Best Defense. This was a 6-hour training session with multiple breakout sessions for everyone. I started with a session with Kathy Long who is a champion kickboxer. She gave us a great session on boxing moves and kicking moves. It was about a two-hour session. It was really informative and fun. We went from there to a session on third-party knife defense with Sensei Nordberg and Mr. Brochu. This was very useful to get some more work on knife defense as I prepare for my black belt test. This led into the next session with Sensei Sanders and Sensei Pan from Franklin. They did a session on gun defense from odd positions like sitting and from far behind. Our last session was ground fighting with Mr. Jimmy. Lots of breakfalls and more. This one was a tough one to end on but it was very useful. The day was an excellent one and I had a lot of fun even though I was wiped out from last nights black belt assessment. I know I’m really ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01019 I have to run. I have to run because I am working on earning my Black Belt in Krav Maga and there are physical requirements that have to be passed in order to pass the test. In addition to knowing and being able to perform and apply my Krav Maga curriculum I have to do a certain number of push ups and squats as well as a plank for a certain amount of time and a mile run within a specific time as well. I went to D.B. Sports today and picked up these new Hoka sneakers. I had never heard of these before but the folks at D. B. Sports helped me pick them out. I explained that I run like a cement mixer with an unbalanced load of concrete laced with lead. I also explained that I have neuropathy in my feet. He had me take off my shoes and walk a bit so he could see how I walked. He also checked my current sneakers for wear on them. Based on that he put me in a couple of shoes including these Hoka ones. They felt really, really comfortable. So I got them. Last night was m...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01018 At Eva’s birthday party the kids had a ton of candy. There was 6 pounds of Sour Patch Kids. It is one of the kids favorite candies. Alison put everything out in jars. I was looking for something to photograph tonight and so I took a photo of them in the jars. They are so colorful.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01017 I’ve been putting a few things on my car to accessorize it. I bought a Transformers symbol that I thought was much larger but it turned out to be 1 inch. Because it was so small I placed it next to the GT symbol at the back of my car. I also bought some red claw marks and put those on the car, I may take them off and get some new ones and place them on much better now that I know how they work.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01016 I took a trip over to Walmart today and while I was there I found a couple of things. I found the Coronation Starscream figure that is part of the Transformers R.E.D. line. These are movie and TV accurate figures that are poseable and come with accessories.  They do not transform but they look incredible. This one of Starscream is from Transformers The Movie where Starscream ascends to the throne of the Decepticons. However, this was not a monarchy. Starscream just has a super inflated ego and so he took it upon himself to crown himself leader of the Decepticons. I wonder where he got the crown in the first place. Well, it was short lived because Galvatron shows up and reduces Starscream to ash moments later. The figure is cool because it comes with the crown and the cape and even these shoulder thingies to make Starscream look bigger than he is. They included additional hands and also laser fire accessories so that his harm lasers look like they are firing. ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01015 Today we went to King Richard’s Faire. I did not think that we were going to make it this year because of all the time I have to take with testing for my Black Belt in Krav. However, we were gifted free tickets for the family and I was able to get enough time to take yesterday off so I wouldn’t be completely dead on my feet today. This year we took Eva’s friend Bridget with us. Eva was very excited to have her along. Eva had also made her entire costume for the faire. She designed it, and did all the sewing on it as well. She also made Andy’s cloak. We did not know if we’d see our friend Ryan at the faire but he was there. This year he is Pulcinella, the town crier. It was nice to get a few minutes to chat with him before we went off and explored the realm. We arrived a little before the gates opened and were able to see the introduction skits that happen before the gates open wide. Then we went in, saw our friend Julie (Thanks for the tickets!!) and also our fri...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01014 Today was Eva’s actual birthday and I am glad that I had it off. We started the day off with Church and our annual birthday breakfast with dad. I took her to Mackie’s which was a last minute change for Eva. She had been saying that she wanted to do the Purple Rooster but changed her mind at the last second. We enjoyed a big breakfast and then headed to Lowes so that I could pick up a hacksaw for a project that we were working on later in the day. I took a quick nap because I worked the night before. When I got up we went to the garage to work on Eva’s project. She is building a sword for her Halloween cosplay. She has almost every other part of her costume ready but tis is her first time building a sword using EVA Foam. We are just learning so after we cut everything and were about to put the pieces together with contact cement we realized that we had rubber cement which is not the same thing. So, we have to wait until the contact cement arrives. We enjoyed a gre...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01013 Tonight was Eva’s birthday party. she wanted to have her friends over to watch Beetlejuice. The cake is also a Beetlejuice themed cake. Allison made a 6 layer cake, it was enormous! We picked up two full sheet pizzas from Apollon and one small cheese, no sauce for one of Eva’s friends. I set the girls up with the movie Beetlejuice in the back yard with the new projector. I guess it worked okay, but the girls really did not do too much watching. They did plenty of laughing and screaming. Joyful laughter, the best kind. One of the girls that came over has a brother in Andy’s class and that boy came over too so that they could watch a movie together and play, too. They watched Space Jam. It was a great night for everyone. Wish I didn’t have to leave for work and could have watched it all, but I definitely heard it all.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01012 Funko sent me the Suki figure for free to unbox and review. Opinions are my own. I once tried to get the kids to watch Avatar The Last Airbender with me on Netflix. They watched an episode and were not that impressed. A couple of months later Eva is talking about the show and come to find out she watched the show, all of it, like she discovered it. Then I had to watch it to catch up with her so we could talk about it. We watched through that show and then The Legend of Korra. After watching the shows we also read the comics that took place after the events of the show. Some of them even featured Suki in a larger role than she had in the show. Eva really liked the character. She is happy with a new figure to add to her collection.

We received a review copy of Cranky Chicken for free. Opinions are our own. Cranky Chicken is a super cute graphic novel for younger kids in the vein of Narwhal and Jelly and The Bad Guys. You have Cranky, the chicken, she’s cranky. She’s cranky over so many things. One day she is cranky at a leaf and kicks it freeing Speedy the worm from under the evil leaf’s terrible embrace. Speedy immediately befriends, or rather attempts to befriend, Cranky. Cranky is having nothing of it but eventually gets worn down by Speedy’s enthusiasm and persistence. What follows are three fun stories that kids will enjoy. The artwork is clean and simple with a watercolor feel. The book is for ages 6-9 and is available now. More about the book. A Downright Hilarious Graphic Novel Chapter Book about an Unlikely Friendship CRANKY CHICKEN Written and Illustrated by Katherine Battersby Narwhal and Jelly meet The Bad Guys in CRANKY CHICKEN (On Sale 9/7/21) by critically acclaimed author-illustrator Katherine Bat...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01011 Months ago I ordered a few of the Transformers R.E.D. figures and the last one to arrive was Bumblebee. It came in way after all the others and when it arrived Walmart sent me two of them. I am not sure if I was charged for two but I have two. so one went in the pile of donations for Christmas is for Kids. This figure has been sitting in the box for quite a while and I started cleaning up the office a bit and finally decided to open it up. I have three of other figures, Optimus Prime, Megatron and Soundwave. They look great and came with awesome accessories like they would in the show. Bumblebee has a blaster and some blaster fire plus an Energon cube, but I can’t quite make him hold it. He also came with extra hands. But they still do not hold the cube. I’ll have to figure that out.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01010 Funko sent me a couple of the What If…? Figures for my collection and the other day I was at Target and decided to pick up another one. Target had an exclusive King Killmonger figure. There was an episode of What If…? Where Killmonger came to Tony Stark’s rescue in Afghanistan and Tony hired him on to be his head of security. Killmonger’s ambition was so great and terrible that he kills Tony and takes over Wakanda then pits the U.S.A. vs Wakanda. Well, in the season finale the Watcher gathers the Guardians o the Multiverse and Killmonger is one of them. He’s clearly a villain but he’s needed to play his role in stopping Ultron. so I bought the Killmonger one but Funko sent me the Captain Carter and T’Challa Star-Lord ones for free. I unbox them in this video.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01009 We received a copy of Space Jam: A New Legacy on Blu-ray for free from Warner Bros. They are also providing the giveaway prize. Opinions are our own. Space Jam: A New Legacy is out today on 4K UHD, Blu-Ray and DVD today. I received a package of fun Space Jam things including the movie on Blu-ray, some Fruit Roll Ups and some Taz socks. How did Warner Bros. know that Taz was my favorite Looney Toons character! You can have the chance to get your hands on a copy of the movie on DVD by entering my giveaway below. Make sure that you leave a comment on this post in order to qualify. U.S. Entrants only. More about the movie. Space Jam: A New Legacy – Comes Home from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment On 4K UHD, Blu-Ray and DVD on October 5th This transformational journey is a manic mashup of two worlds that reveals just how far some parents will go to connect with their kids. When LeBron and his young son Dom are trapped in a digital space by a rogue A.I., LeBron must get...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01008 My friend Jon came home from California this week and he set up a meet-up with a diverse group of folks from our High School years. Jon and I have known each other since pre-school. He then skipped a grade and I moved so we lost touch (this was LONG before Facebook or even email). We reconnected in High School where we both did theater. Theater in High School was where I met Aaron. The three of us reconnected several years back when a mutual friend of ours passed away. We met up at the wake and funeral. We reconnected then and that was when I discovered that Aaron lived mere minutes from my house. We’ve met up from time to time ever since, not as much as both of us would like but a fair amount. I hadn’t seen Jon since the funeral 8 years ago. I’m really glad that Jon pulled so many fun people together. We had a great time talking and laughing. we met up at Six Strings at Patriot Place. We had the place to ourselves which was a good thing because we were so loud. ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01007 I don’t do much decorating around here but I do have some Halloween related toys that I got from Playmobil. The Ghostbusters Ecto-1 and the Scooby Doo Mystery Mansion and Mystery Machine works out perfectly to replace the Avengers that were on the Lazy Susan. This way I can turn the mansion to see the front and the back of it. There are a bunch of great Scooby Doo sets from Playmobil with even more characters. Playmobil has done an amazing job with so many different licenses. Here is the inside of the house. I even saw that they are going to produce an A-Team set with the signature A-Team van!!

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01006 We went to see my nephew play soccer today. I just happened to be awake so I was able to go and see the game. It was nice to see him play. He looks so happy playing the game. While his team did not lose he worked really hard and had a nice time. We were able to catch up with my mom and dad and sister and my brother-in-law. My niece was at a birthday party so we missed seeing her. We did bring her birthday gift and I think she liked it because my sister sent me a video of her playing with it.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01005 Playmobil sent me the a new fun set for free to review. Opinions are my own. This past Christmas we received the Stunt Show Jumbo Advent Calendar from Playmobil and on it there were some other fun stunt sets. The one that really spoke to me was the Shark Monster Truck. When it became available I asked for one to review and I was not disappointed. This is a fantastic vehicle. The set comes with the monster truck, a crushed car and also one figure. There are great details on the vehicle and also the driver. The driver has a great fish shaped helmet. The truck has this massive grinning shark grill and also a dorsal fin on top and a tail on the back. The wheels have giant knobby tires and suspension. This vehicle will provide hours of fun playtime for any kid excited about monster trucks and doing cool stunts. You can find out more about the vehicle at the Playmobil website – Playmobil 70550 Stunt Show Shark Monster Truck. Official Description: “The Stunt Show Shark ...