BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01307 Tomorrow the kids start two different adventures. Eva will be participating in Freshman Academy at Feehan and Andy will be starting archery camp. Both kids are a bit nervous and express those nerves in very different ways. Eva being a teenager her anxiety is manifested in snark. For Andy his anxiety manifests as not being able to sleep. Finally Allison read him a book in monotone to knock him out. I know that both kids will enjoy their experiences despite these initial anxious feelings.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01306 Allison learned of an autistic boy who recently learned that he has leukemia. His mother put out a call on Tik Tok to ask for cards for him and Allison wrote one out and asked Andy to draw something for the boy. Andy searched for images of a baby pikachu character, a Pokemon character and this is what he made. It is very cute.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01305 Today was Andy’s last day at the cooking/baking camp. We were invited to come in and sample the treats that the kids made. They had some brownies with marshmallow and white chocolate. There were some sugar crisps with chocolate, caramel, raspberry and vanilla sauces. They also made various drinks. One Andy’s teachers works at an ice cream shop that makes cereal milk ice cream. Andy got to sample the fruity pebbles ice cream. He loved it. Andy was really in his element this past week. He came home with such excitement over what he did during his camp. He couldn’t wait to go back each day either. When he arrived the kids and the teachers greeted him warmly. Allison said that when she dropped him off he was like Norm from Cheers. I’m very glad to hear that. After the year he had in school he needs some social wins.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01304 For my birthday I bought the LEGO Optimus Prime set 10302 because I am a lifelong Transformers fan. I’ve been working with the folks at Lightailing and asked them if they could send me their Lightailing kit for this LEGO set. They did and so I assembled Optimus throughout the week and then I was able to add the light kit to that assembled figure. Lightailing has two different variations of lighting kits. They have the BriksMax one that has several lines of lights that you attach into one strip and then attach to a power source. The Lightailng kits are all in one line and measured out precisely to add the lights to the LEGO set. For Optimus Prime the Briksmax set has two additional lights at the feet of Optimus Prime. While that is cool I did not really need the extra lights and I wanted to try the Lightailing set this time. I really liked it. You can see how everything came together in the video below. If you want to pick up the sets for yourself you can ge...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01303 Tonight Allison and I went to see Ben Brainard at the Comedy Connection in Providence. Ben Brainard is a comedian that we discovered at the start of the pandemic. He was doing skits as if he was a different state talking to the federal government regarding how they were rolling out the vaccine mandates. When he did the MA character we were hooked. We’ve been watching him ever since and when we heard that he was coming to Rhode Island we had to go and see him. Before we went out to the Comedy Connection I picked Andy up from camp and he told me about his day. He had fun today because he was able to decorate cupcakes and he’s been learning how to decorate cupcakes all this past year at the Creative Sewing Studio. So he has some skills already. He asked if he could have a third color of frosting so that he could create raccoon cupcakes. So he got black, white and grey. They came out really cute. Before we went to the show we had dinner at the Black Duck Tavern...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01302 Before we picked Andy up at Cooking Camp we stopped at the Providence Place Mall. We were there for a couple of reasons. First off we were checking on Andy’s iPad to see why it didn’t charge properly. Apparently his iPad had a “wicked Bend” to it. Our genius, Sam, told us. Then they showed us the iPad and we could see how there was a bend to it. Only Andy. That was why the charging on it was so wonky. Well, that stinks. But since Eva was getting a brand new iPad she graciously decided that Andy could have her old one which was the same model as his. We brought along our old iPad minis and Allison’s old iPhone figuring that maybe we’d be able to trade them in for some money. No such luck. The iPad minis were too old and the iPhone had a cracked screen and was too old. So we came home with the brand new iPad and a case/keyboard for Eva. Luckily we mentioned that it was for school and she needed one because the school required it. Our apple sales person was ab...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01301 Today was Andy’s first day at his cooking/baking camp at Johnson and Wales. Eva attended this came a few years ago and she loved it. I know that Andy is also going to love it based on how excited he was coming home today. This morning however… was all nerves and anxiety. Doing something new can certainly cause some anxiety. This was brand new for Andy and for but he needn’t have worried he had an amazing time. He was talking up a storm on the way home. When he came down the elevator he was all smiles and he had a big box of cookies and a huge tube of frosting plus a package of cookie dough to make at home. He could not wait for us to try the cookies that he made. they were decorated with carrots. He and his friend J.P. made them together. So, Andy made friends, made cookies and I think that this morning he also made pancakes for their lunch. In the morning they cook their lunches and in the afternoons they bake desserts. He’s going to have an incredible wee...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01300 For my birthday I purchased the LEGO Optimus Prime set. I am also working with the folks at Lightailing to demo one of their LED light kits that can enhance a LEGO set. They sent me the set for free and I am very grateful. I have another set that they sent me as well and I will be building that very soon, too. More on that another day.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01299 Today my new manager had the team over to his house for a pool party. He has an amazing pool complete with a custom waterfall. I made sure to get a fun picture by the waterfall. He has a poolside cabana that is perfect for entertaining. He even made 6 hour smoked ribs that were basted every hour and they were incredible. He even had take out boxes to bring food home with us when it was over. I had to work so I could only stay until about 6:30pm. It was nice to hang at the pool and meet the many people from my group and the extended group. This morning Allison and Andy went to the Church Fair and apparently Andy was the first to dunk Fr. Rodney in the dunk tank. He had a great time playing there and won a stuffed alpaca. He must have been pretty wiped out tonight because when I came home to work, instead of going to the office because of the heat, he ended up falling asleep, hard, in our bed. He fell asleep, just like I often do even holding the TV remote.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01298 The kids had a great three weeks of Science School. this year Andy made some really nice friends and continues to contact them now that classes are over. I am very happy for him to make some nice friends. Eva finally got to be in Auntie Tara’s class. I can’t believe that Eva has only 2 more years of classes before she ages out of the program and could be eligible to be an assistant. Allison went to the last 15 minutes of each of the classes to see what the kids did during Science School. I got home early so that I could sleep before work. I tried but it is still very hard to get Friday afternoon sleep.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01297 Today was one busy day on the Cape. The kids did their annual rock sale and this year it was to raise funds for the Sarcoma Foundation of America. This was Eva’s choice because one of her favorite streamers, Technoblade, who passed away from Sarcoma less than a month ago. The kids did a fantastic job selling fidget stars, rainbow loom bracelets, lemonade and painted rocks. They raised over $200 to donate. The table was out all day long and many people came by to help out. It was a super hot day but things went well. The kids were great about making sales and talking with people. Tonight we went to the Barnstable County Fair. Eva was meeting up with her friend L. She met her at the Wicked Comic Con and they have been playing Minecraft together ever since. We met L’s parents, too. They were nice down to Earth people. Eva and L went on rides and wandered the event together. Allison, Andy and I went our own way. Neither of us were interested in going on rides a...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01296 Last week we tried to go for dinner at The Glass Onion but we did not have reservations and so we opted for the local Mexican restaurant. Today we made a reservation and went for dinner. The meal was delicious. I got the Pecan Crusted Swordfish with Celery Root Couscous, Baby Carrots and Parsley Cream. Allison got the Seared Scallops with Bacon Braised Collards and Kale, Sweet Corn Polenta and Roasted Garlic Aioli. Both meals were excellent. We did get dessert, too. Allison opted for the blueberry shortcake and I went with the Vanilla Crème Brûlée. They were both good but I would have liked the crust of sugar thinner and the custard a bit thicker. That is just how I like my Vanilla Crème Brûlée. It tasted great but the sugar on top was very thick. When we got home we realized that we had not gotten a photo together so we went over to the beach and took the selfie above. We were able to go to the Glass Onion because of the generous gifts that Allison receive...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01295 I must have gotten my days mixed up on the National Day calendar that gets sent to me because tomorrow is National Hot Dog Day but we celebrated early. We had a nice cookout tonight with Mom and Dad. I grilled everything up and we ate out on the back patio. It was a very windy day but we were able to enjoy the protection of the newly trimmed bushes to block the wind. I went and picked up some Pearl Hot Dogs from The Windfall Market. They are the one place around that has them at regular hot dog size in a package. They tasted great! Allison and I went for a nice long walk along Great Bay this morning. We had a nice day overall.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01294 We are back down the Cape for the last week of Science School for the kids. We’ll try and do as much as we can this week but still take it easy a bit. We have a lot of plans. The main things are the rock sale and the visit between Eva and her friend at the Barnstable County Fair. Allison and I are going to go for a date night this week, too. So, busy. Allison and the kids went down early and I drove down in the afternoon after I had gotten some sleep. I worked all weekend so I had to get some sleep on Monday before driving down. Tonight we took it easy and the kids played on the skateboards after dinner while I watched. Andy and Kylie played on the Skateboards, Dylan was making rubber band bracelets for the rock sale. Eva was doing her own thing. While I was out there I talked with our neighbor and gave her a set of Wipeout protective skate pads for her son. They were for much smaller kids. Her little guy is the lucky one in the neighborhood who gets our ha...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01293 Tonight we went over to Bliss for National Ice Cream Day. We took Uncle Jim with us and he treated us to some ice cream. There was a DJ there entertaining everyone who was there having ice cream. The kids even picked up hula hoops and showed off their skills. We had a nice time.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01292 Allison found some Street Corn dip at Market Basket. This is a delicious dip that is perfect on tortilla chips. She said that there are other dips there at Markey Basket and I am excited to see what else they have and check them out.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01291 This morning I went over to Mashpee Commons and picked up a halt dozen donuts from Duke’s Donut Worx. This is an independent donut shop that hand makes their donuts. I was third in line when they opened for the day. They put out a new menu each month and there was a great selection of interesting donuts. The donuts that I picked up were the Cookie Monster, Pinky Tuscadero (raspberry frosting), Powdered Jelly (raspberry/orange), Sour Cream Old Fashioned, S’mores and a Black & White (reverse Boston Creme). When we get special donuts we usually all taste test them together. So, we each picked the one we wanted most and got the biggest piece of that. Then we cut the other pieces into smaller ones so that we could try everything together. My favorite was the one that I chose which was the powdered jelly donut. The jelly was a raspberry / orange. My second favorite was the Cookie Monster. They were all really good, though.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01290 Today we took advantage of a beautiful morning to try out our Christmas gifts. This Christmas we each got an inflatable Stand Up Paddle Board. We took them over to Great Bay to try them out. Andy and Eva had no trouble at all standing up on their boards. Allison also got to a standing position. I tried it and promptly face planted, mouth wide open into Great Bay. I swallowed way too much and then spent much of the time after that in a coughing fit. That was not caught on video, but Allison caught a picture of me post dunk. After I cleared out all the water I was able to paddle around on my knees and also in a sitting position. I think that my board will need to be inflated more the next time we go out. I had my GoPro Max strapped to the front of my board and got some decent video that I need to process soon to see if I can get a few minutes of usable footage. The kids did a great job paddling. we are going to try to go out again next week.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01289 Most Mornings before things get rolling around her the cousins come over and the kids spend time together. This morning Andy was showing them some things on his iPad. He does like to share his knowledge of games or silly videos or even drawing apps with his cousins. We’re pretty much smack dab in the middle of our Cape Cod vacation. We did go to the beach today, it was nice and not as windy as yesterday. I think we were a bit beached out though and came home after a few hours. We lasted longer than yesterday when we got wind blasted and Andy suggested we head home. Tonight Allison and I attempted to go use one of her gift cards that she received from her students at SMSH. It was for The Glass Onion. They were full up and had no reservations. Also, I should have some better clothes with me when we go. My T-shirt from the Finest School for Witchcraft and Wizardry wasn’t gonna cut it. We then attempted to go to The flying Bridge, another gift card but it was t...

  I received and advanced copy of A Perfect Mistake by Melanie Conklin (Little Brown and Company) which goes on sale today. These are my honest opinions on the book. I get pitches to check out books all the time. I read things from kids picture books to YA fantasy and Graphic Novels and everything in between. I got the pitch for A Perfect Mistake and reading the quick synopsis of the book made me very interested in reading it. The book deals with family ties, ADHD, toxic masculinity, responsibility and friendship. It was one of those books that when I began reading it I wanted to read the entire thing right away to get to the resolution of the mystery within the book. We have our main character, Max, he’s 11 years old but has the height and size of a kid in high school. So a lot of responsibility and unfair expectations get put upon him because of that. Max is also dealing with ADHD, he is seeing a therapist and this is helping him come up with strategies to manage his experiences....

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01288 Today was by far the windiest day on the Cape our whole trip. so, what else would the kids like to do on a windy day then fly a kite. Yes, you need wind for kite flying but this was a lot of wind. The kids were not to be deterred so they took the turtle kite over to the beach and they did a nice job of taking turns with the kite. However, some things are just inevitable with kites. At some point the roll of string was let go and the kite went sailing off but not before the string got wrapped around the power lines. Allison and Eva and I went to see Thor: Love and Thunder at the Falmouth Cinema Pub and just before we left we saw the kite flying up over the houses while it was stuck on the power lines. It think this happened more often than not when I was a kid. I even think that is how we obtained that kite in the first place. Thor was a good movie and we enjoyed it very much. Not as good as Ragnarok but still entertaining overall.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01287 Today Allison and I drove for Andy’s Science School field trip to Wood Neck Beach. In grand CSS tradition we did not know if both of us would be needed to drive until we got there to find out. Turned out that they could use our help so I drove three of the boys from Andy’s class and Allison drove Andy and Evie and another kid from class. All good kids in these classes. So smart and inquisitive. We got to Wood Neck Beach which has a marsh area and we explored the marsh looking for different specimens for the tank back at Science School. A Cape Cod Marsh has many different parts to it including some shoe sucking muck. One of the boys who rode with me lost a shoe in the muck and Andy got sucked into quicksand. Luckily Allison sprung in to action to pull him out while I laughed and took photos. Such a good dad. One of the coolest things that we saw was a Mantis Shrimp. The kids even caught the thing twice. It was the biggest thing in the marsh and you could see...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01286 Today we went to a birthday party for my cousin’s daughter. She turned 1 year old. It was a nice chance to spend some family time with my Aunt and Uncle and cousins. My cousin Shaun and I work together and talk most every weekend. We also play a lot of X-Box but that’s besides the point. His sister Carissa lives out in California but when she comes home she packs in all the parties and get togethers she can. So today we celebrated her daughter’s birthday and we had special guests of Mickey and Minnie at the party. I decided to embrace the surreal Mickey and Minnie, who could have used a (disney) Magic Eraser on their costumes. Also, Mickey definitely had a Latinx accent. Minnie sure could play some soccer, though. They came and danced and took photos with everyone. I watched all of it and couldn’t help but think that someone who would have loved the whole experience would have been my Grandpa Rick. He just loved to have fun even if it was completely silly. ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01285 With the last update to Fortnite they added a whole bunch of movement options to characters in Save The World. Now the characters can move like the characters in the regular Battle Royale game with the ability to slide, mantle and sprint. This makes the Ninja character so much better to play.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01284 I rolled over on my glasses yesterday and I knew it was finally time for me to go in and get another pair. It had been 3 years with my current frames. I came home early from the Cape because I wanted to get the LensCrafters to order my new frames. I was thinking about getting another pair like the ones I had already but decided that I liked the look of these frames instead. Plus, they are larger frames for my larger head. They should be ready in about 7-10 days. Luckily they were able to wrestle my existing frames back into some semblance of shape.