BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01429 I’m working with the folks at Lightailing on a post that I am writing for the Men Who Blog site. They sent me their LED Light Kit for my LEGO Voltron set. I added those lights to the set today. a much more detailed review will be going up on the Men who blog site in a while but I did create a video and posted it to my YouTube channel. In the video you can see Voltron all lit up, too.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01428 I recently received a copy of the final book in the Explorer Academy series from National Geographic. This is a YA adventure series that takes place all around the world. There is a blend of real world science with science fiction plus a ton of cool locations across the globe and lots and lots of puzzles and riddles and codes to solve. I have read all seven books in the series and I have enjoyed them all. The series centers on the character Cruz Coronado. He’s a kid form Hawaii who gets accepted into the fictional Explorer Academy based in Washington DC. From there he has adventures all over the world with his friends Emmett, Sailor, Bryndis and Lani. This series has been building to an incredible finale and this book did not disappoint. Some major thigs were revealed and I am happy to hear that while Cruz’s story and focus on him is over with this series there is a spin-off series coming centered around another explorer and that already has some interestin...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01427 Our Elf on the shelf, Fitzy, has returned. He actually comes back the day after Thanksgiving. However, this year we went to the Cape for Thanksgiving and I figured that I would get him upstairs and ready so that I could hide him right before we left for the Cape. That way Andy would see him when we returned. I thought I had hidden him so well and completely out of site but he saw Fitzy’s leg as he came down the stairs. So we moved him, he saw him again and we moved him one more time before we left the house so that he’s be in a different place when we got home. I’m not exactly sure if Andy still believes in Santa or even the Elf on the shelf. I do know that he still enjoys finding him around the house.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01426 There is pie under all that Whipped cream, I swear. While I do enjoy whipped cream I enjoy cool whip much more but we never get it anymore. I tend to enjoy a lot of whipped cream on my pie and I love pumpkin pie. I also like to encase the pie in whipped cream. That’s what I did here.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01425 We headed home today but not before taking some photos around the living room Christmas tree at my parent’s house. We did not do that yesterday when they decorated it. Something must have gotten on the lens of my phone’s camera because each photo has some weird light streaks on it.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01424 The kids helped Mem and Grandfather put up their tree today. This tree is in the living room and they will get a living tree for the sunporch. Decorating the tree the day after Thanksgiving has been a tradition for the kids and their grandparents. Today was a relaxing day we hung out, went downtown for a little shopping and tonight Uncle Jim bought dinner from The Quarterdeck. After dinner we all watched A Christmas Story Christmas. I think everyone enjoyed the movie even though the kids swear that they have not seen the original. I know I have tried to show it to them, though.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01423 Today we celebrated thanksgiving on Cape Cod. It was a very nice day filled with good food and family. After our meal Allison and I went for a walk along the beach. Andy went for a walk with Uncle Jim. they went for a nice long walk and Andy really enjoyed spending time with him. I noticed that the benches along the beach were decorated with some wreaths and thought I’d capture them along with the sunset which was again beautiful. We were very lucky with each night’s amazing sunset. We hung out tonight and watched some of the Patriots game. They did not win, unfortunately. But, we had a nice night hanging out and being with family. Speaking of family we all donned our new family pjs for Christmas. While starting Christmas traditions this early doesn’t sit well with Eva she does enjoy this one and so we got together for a family photo on the sunporch to wear the family Christmas pjs for the first time tonight. We’ve been doing this for many years now and it ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01422 We’re down the Cape for the Thanksgiving holiday. We headed down today after the kids had their half day at school. We got to the Cape in the middle of the afternoon. We enjoyed some Paul’s pizza with my parents and my Uncle Jim. At this time of year the sunsets are so beautiful and we can see them from the porch. Eva has been taking lots of photos of the skies lately. She was very excited for the sunset tonight and so I snapped this photo of her snapping sunset photos.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01421 Andy turned 11 today. He started his day with birthday breakfast with dad. Glad he asked me where we were going because I had honestly forgotten about taking him. We tried to go to Morin’s but they were closed and then I thought we could go to J.D.’s but they were closed so we had to go to Mackie’s. It is not my favorite but Andy likes it. He had a bacon and cheese omelet an really enjoyed it. I dropped him off at school and then went to my Krav class for Stripe Test. My stripe test was challenging but good. I got another stripe. I’m going to have to tie my belt lopsided from now on so that there is room to put additional stripes. At least until I can earn my black belt. Andy was very generous at school today. Because it was his birthday he asked if he could use his own money to buy his classmates drinks at lunch. He got everyone a lemonade. The kid has a big heart. I picked up Eva from school and then we met Andy and Allison at the karate dojo where the ki...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01420 Andy’s birthday is tomorrow and so tonight is his last night as a 10 year old. Andy has made some very significant changes this year. He’s gotten into Rock Climbing and that has helped him out immensely in the confidence department. He’s good at it and so he’s getting some personal wins. He’s decided that Kempo Karate is not for him and is going to give Krav Maga a shot. He’s been eagerly awaiting turning 11 so that he can start training in Krav. He’s doing well in school. He’s always been very bright and he continues to excel there. He’s growing up and he’s coming into his own on a lot of things.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01419 Today we celebrated Andy’s birthday at Rock Spot Climbing in Lincoln, RI. He had 6 of his friends plus Eva and his cousins Dylan and Kylie. All the kids did a great job climbing and Andy got to show off his skills. He looks so comfortable climbing around. He also does this super cool way of coming back down on the auto belay system. Just kicking off and practically floating to the ground. So effortless. Kylie took to climbing really quickly. She ventured the highest out of she Eva and Dylan. Although she did not climb highest on this particular track. She was one of the first kids to step up and try climbing at the party. Dylan took a little more time to warm up to the climb. He did a great job but seemed more hesitant about going high on each climb. Eva discovered that heights aren’t really her thing. She got more comfortable toward the end of the session. She said that each time she was to come back down she felt like the auto belay was not gonna catch fo...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01418 Allison made a few cakes for Andy’s birthday cake for his party tomorrow. We’re having his birthday at Rock Spot Climbing and Allison is making a cake that will look like a rock or rock climbing wall. Andy tried to describe his vision to me but I’m going to wait and see what Allison creates.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01417 This wall art is a bit different than what I have on my walls but I am not in my own office. I’m in the office at work tonight. I am lucky that I only have to do this once a month. It makes me realize how much I miss my home setup for working. Having everything right where I need it is very important. When I go to the office I have to move a bunch of stuff around to get a working area for myself. I no longer have a desk to go to and as a group I go to a different building from where I used to have a desk. So, I sit at someone else’s desk and use my laptop and their monitor. I think the only useful thing is the second monitor but that’s about it.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01416 This week at America’s Best Defense they are having a 15% off clothing sale and they just ordered a bunch of great new items. For this guy with a shaved head it was a no brainer to pick up their new beanie. It is actually a Christmas gift for me but I’m wearing it early. It is very warm and comfortable. The leather icon on the beanie looks more like ABC and not ABD. This will be great to wear after classes in the morning especially as it gets colder.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01415 I recently got a set of Twinkly Squares to hang in my office. The set came with six of the squares. This makes a rectangular display and many things I want to post are square shaped. Now with an additional 3 squares I can make a square to display. I put these up with the Velcro Command strips so that I could reposition the squares. This way I can take it off the wall and only have to replace half of the command strips in order to put this back on the wall. I’ll be putting these back up later this week. Allison got me the second set of squares for our anniversary. Andy told her that I wanted to get another set of these to make my display better.

A Christmas Story is an annual tradition in this house. We watch the movie at least three times a holiday season. The story of Ralphie Parker and his pursuit of the Red Ryder BB Gun is iconic. The movie itself is so incredibly quotable and it is accessible to so many people. From Jean Shepherd’s narration to the imaginative daydreams to getting a tongue stuck to a freezing flag pole this movie has so many great moments. On Thursday November 17th HBO Max is releasing A Christmas Story Christmas which is a sequel to the iconic Christmas Movie. I was able to screen the movie early so that I could interview Ralphie Parker himself, Peter Billingsley. You can see the trailer below. As a fan of the original I went in wondering if I would like how they handle this sequel while also knowing that nothing could ever be better than the original. This movie, however, did an amazing job of being true to the original film and being its own unique story and did not lean on the original movie’s plot or...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01414 A Christmas Story Christmas comes out on Thursday on HBO Max. I am very excited about it and so many people I know are also excited. One of my Sensei’s at Krav is super excited. He’s a huge fan of the original movie and cannot wait for this sequel. To get me even more excited Warner Bros sent me this fantastic mailer with some great A Christmas Story and A Christmas Story Christmas items inside. They included a hat, a little cake, the leg lamp ornament, a copy of the original movie on DVD, sparkling cider with an ugly sweat covering, plus and ugly sweater cookie decorating set. Wow! And there was also a code to screen A Christmas Story Christmas and a $50 give card to a minibar site for some adult beverages for when the kids go to sleep and Santa takes care of the magic. One of the more fun mailers I’ve ever received. If you haven’t read it yet, my review of A Christmas Story Christmas is below this post. Give it a look over and I hope you watch the movie o...

  I was given two Nintendo Switch Game Codes for the upcoming game, Smurfs Kart for free so that I could review the game and do a giveaway. Opinions are my own. We all know that I am a child of the 70’s but my formative pop culture years were the 1980’s. I watched The Smurfs every Saturday morning as a kid. I loved Saturday morning cartoons and the Smurfs was a huge part of that. I had collected many Smurfs figures and stickers and so many Smurfs related things. I jumped at the chance to review this game. Playing Smurfs Kart is like being transported to Smurfs Village and being 3 apples tall. I had so much fun racing around the courses as Papa Smurf in a Smurf sized vehicle that had the look and feel of some contraption that Handy Smurf created. As I raced along in the Smurf Cup races and won nearly all of them. I was playing in “Fun” mode to start, I earned a bunch of Smurfs Stickers for my sticker album. Did I mention that I collected stickers as a kid and these stickers in the g...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01413 Finally getting around to replacing one of my spotlight son the garage. And by getting around to it I unscrewed it so I could go get another one. It now resides in my car of an indeterminate amount of time.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01412 The other day I was at Five Below and found this candy tin that was shaped to look like a Gameboy from the late 90’s. I got one of these when I was a kid. I bought it myself after mowing lawns and working at The Dairy Tower on Cape Cod. My boss there let me buy it and a ton of batteries from BJs using their membership. I remember that I wanted one not only to play games anywhere but to play with my friend James while we road down to Florida on vacation. The Gameboy allowed you to tether two of them together so that you could play head to head with a friend. So, with a brick of double AA batteries and a day and a half car ride we were set to play to our heart’s content. This is actually the one video game system that I do not know exactly what happened to it when I left for college. I took my original NES with me but not the Gameboy. I have found a game or two from time to time but never the actual Gameboy. It definitely was fun for the time I had it.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01411 Today is our 17th Wedding Anniversary. While we are not celebrating by going out or having a fancy meal we are going to celebrate at a later date. I got us tickets to see comedian Tom Papa at Foxwoods in February. Allison bot me 3 expansion tiles for my Twinkly Light board that you can see behind us in the photo. that way I can have a 3X3 square and do even more fun light based artistic things. Seventeen years. Wow. Long time and a good life together. Two amazing kids, a house that we love but one that could use a little work, can’t they all. Good jobs and good health overall. Couldn’t ask for much more.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01410 Allison and I went to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and it was a really good movie. There was an amazing tribute to Chadwick Boseman who portrayed The Black Panther in many Marvel movies and who passed away from Colon Cancer in 2020. Marvel’s decision to not replace the actor in subsequent movies was the right one. The story of his passing in life and his character’s passing in the movie moved the story along. The movie was very emotional in many parts all the way till the end. We both commented on the amazing costumes in this movie. It should get an Oscar for that alone. Costuming for everyone involved was incredible. I liked ow the story introduced some new heroes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I unfortunately knew about a few things were going to happen in the movie because I had seen a spoiler ridden synopsis about a year ago. All those things did happen in the movie but I still enjoyed it. I loved the introduction of Ironheart. I could care les...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01409 One of my favorite comic book teams of all time are The WildC.a.T.S. Back in 1992 some guys from Marvel and DC split off on their own to form Image Comics. One of those guys was Jim Lee and he created WildStorm Comics and the flagship team was The WildC.A.T.S. I got back into comic books because of this team and this series. Now WildStorm is under the DC banner and Jim Lee’s characters have shown up in the DC universe. It is time once again for the team to be back together and while they are back they are back together in a rather different way. Some of the original team are there but they also have some members from the later WildC.A.T.S. iterations and also from Gen13, another title that I loved. I am very excited for this new series and I am so on board for reading it.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01408 Andy has been taking rock climbing lessons for the past 8 weeks and he is loving it. Climbing is one of the most fun things that he does. He looks forward to his class every week. He enjoys it so much that we are going to extend his classes for 3 more weeks as a birthday gift and then we have him signed up for another 10 week class as a Christmas gift. Might be from a few family members on that one. Next weekend is his climbing birthday party and he cannot wait to share his love for climbing with his friends.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01407 Ever since the Chili Cook-Off night I’ve been thinking about making a special cracker using mini saltines. ne of the teachers mentioned that her family makes a fun recipe using dill and other flavors to add to their crackers. I decided that I would make my own. I went to the store and found a couple of spice mixes that I thought would work well for this. I found a buttery steakhouse blend and Franks Red Hot spices. I combined both of those with some butter and then I baked them for 12 minutes on 250. I am going to add either Chex or Crispix to this along with pretzels to give it a variety of crunchy textures to enjoy. I think that would be fun. This is a very tasty mixture.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01406 The fine folks at General Mills Cereals sent me this CinnaFuego Toast Crunch sample pack. It contained their new Limited Edition Cereal CinnaFuego Toast Crunch along with some regular Cinnamon Toast Crunch and some fun stickers and more. I occasionally receive packages from my friends at General Mills so that I can review their new cereals. This one was right up my alley because I love hot and spicy things. Combine hot and spicy with cereal and I think we have a whole untapped market to explore. As for the cereal itself, it has a spicy kick to it, very much like those cinnamon red hot hearts that you can find around Valentine’s Day. Spicy but still with a sweet taste as well.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01405 While at the Rhode Island Comic Con yesterday I met an artist who did Transformers artwork for the Transformers comic book. I looked through his pieces and told him that Wheeljack was my favorite character ad asked if he had any Transformers pieces. The only thing he had was the Shattered Glass version of Wheeljack called Slicer but it was not for sale. I enjoyed talking with him so I figured I’d buy something so I picked up the poster of Megatron with Reflector. I’ll have to pick up frame and add this to my wall soon. The comic book is the completed artwork of the Wheeljack alternate version that the artist did, too. I did not catch his name, though. His daughter also did some artwork and he was selling her stuff. Eva picked up a piece from her as well.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01403 Today Eva and I attended the Rhode Island Comic Con at the Convention center and Dunkin Donuts Center. This was the biggest convention that we’ve ever attended. We had a great time but I was happy to hear that Eva prefers the Granite State Comic Con. she likes the smaller venue and the cozier feel of that one. She did, however, have a fun time at the Rhode Island Comic Con. She ran into a bunch of other people who were cosplaying the character that she cosplays, Technoblade. I was there as her NPC Convention Goer. NPC is Non Playable character. A background character in a game, one who often helps the hero out. I don’t mind being that for her. I carried her stuff, took photos of her and the bunch of people who wanted to take photos with her and we had a lot of fun. As we walked around there were a lot of kids who told her that they liked her costume. Many asked to take a photo with her, too. She handled everything with modesty and grace. We attended a panel...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01402 After a 3 year hiatus Eva and I were finally able to get back to a Father Daughter Dance. This one was special because it was her very first one for Bishop Feehan High School. She got a new dress and heels for the occasion. As I hardly ever change I had my same suit but it appears to be fitting much better these days. I can button it. The event was held at the Putnam Club at Gillette Stadium. I’ve only ever been here for COVID Vaccines before. It was a much better occasion to be here for the dance. We sat with Eva’s friends Elizabeth, Cassie, Sam and Grace and their respective dads. I had a nice time talking with Cassie, Grace and Elizabeth’s dads. I did not get much chance to talk with Sam’s dad. I also ran into some other dads that I know from SMSH and other places. I even ran into one of my sister’s friends who also has a freshman daughter. It was a very nice night. We danced, had good food and of course desserts. We always take a dessert selfie and up t...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01401 I’m really excited that my Transformers X G.I.JOE collaboration set arrived today. This thing is amazing. This collaboration reimagines Bumblebee as part of the G.I.JOE team and he turns into an A.W.E. Striker which is an all terrain vehicle and he comes with the G.I.JOE character Lonzo “Stalker” Wilkinson. I love this new transformation of Bumblebee which uses some of his original colors and also his G! head design. He looks incredible and all of that yellow is hidden while in vehicle form. This is key because he is really in disguise and the A.W.E. Striker vehicle looks like the original G.I.JOE one and it is large enough to seat Stalker. I had ordered this months ago and was surprised when it arrived. I had not been expecting it. Glad it came, though.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01400 I was given a free Twinkly Squares starter Kit to review. Opinions are my own. My walls are covered with all sorts of fun toys and other things. I now have an amazing set of programmable LED Wall Panels from Twinkly that I’ve added to the décor of the office. These panels are programable, work with Google, Alexa and Apple and can be customized down to the individual LED. Each Twinkly Square has 64 LEDs on it in an 8×8 grid. You can combine any number of these squares together in all different shapes to create the look and feel that you want in your own home. I personally want to get the 3 Square expansion pack so that I would have a perfect 3X3 square of 9 individual Twinkly Squares. I think this would be the perfect size and addition to my office. For now the 2X3 setup I have is cool and fun. But I can make it better. I made a review of this fun product for my YouTube Channel. Here are more details on the Twinkly Squares from their press release: “Leading Italia...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01399 A close up of some of my Tiny Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that I got a few years back. I love the turtles and these are some of the smallest figures out there. They now stand in a display box that we had in my parent’s house growing up with used to contain pewter figures and other items, now it displays a bunch of smaller toys that I have.