BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01579 Tomorrow we start working on the bathroom. When we moved in we did not do anything to the bathrooms. It has now been 12 years later and the bathroom really needs to be remodeled. Dad is coming down from The Cape and our plumber, Mike will be arriving in the morning to get things started. More pictures will be on the way once we have taken care of the remodel.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01578 I was in Walmart tonight and found a couple of new Hot Wheels Character cars. I haven’t seen many new ones in a while. These are sets of two new series including some video game ones and ones for Avatar The Last Airbender. I’m still looking for the Appa car from Avatar and the Spyro car from the video game series.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01577 Occasionally my Facebook memories feed comes up with photos of my Skylanders from over the past years. There was a time when I played Skylanders almost every day. Now I have all my figures in my office and I have yet to play with any of them in such a long time. At one point the Skylander pictured here, Crusher was my favorite.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01576 Tonight we went over to Feehan to see the art pieces that Eva had in the art show. she’s done some incredible pieces this year and We’re so proud of her hard work and creativity. she is between two of her pieces. One is of the view from the porch at The Cape and the other is of the door near the church. Eva also had another piece in the show that was a close up of fruit. I remember that when she was assigned that project she wasn’t thrilled because she thought it would be boring. She told us that it was one of her favorite projects to do, too.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01575 On the way back from Rock Climbing tonight Andy and I stopped at Wild Time Comics. Andy loves dogs and Randy’s dog is a big old pile of fluff who enjoys getting pets. Andy just wants to give so much love to a dog and I think they needs one in their life. Although, I am not sure how a dog would fit into our life. Maybe look into adopting one after the Summer.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01574 Whenever Allison comes into the bedroom and I am already in bed Toruun will come in with her and demand that I pet her. She pushes her head against my hand over and over until I pet her. She ends up quite needy.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01573 Last Summer I ended up snapping the rope on the lawn mower and it took me a while to get it fixed. Today I went and took care of fixing the pull rope on the mower. It didn’t quite fix it though, still won’t start. So, I guess I have some more to do.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01572 Andy made some gluten-free brookies for their friends at Rock Climbing. One of the kids in the class is gluten-free and so Andy has been making different recipes sot hat everyone in the class can enjoy the treats. Andy is such a thoughtful kid. They don’t get enough credit for that. We are trying to be better about recognizing Andy’s thoughtfulness.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01571 Andy has been hard at work making mini replicas of tools and weapons from Minecraft. Andy looks for the pattern online and then uses Perler beads to create these minis. Andy’s ultimate plan is to attach magnets and Command Strips to them to display them in their room. We suggested that Andy make a bunch up for the rock sale this Summer. I think that Andy just wants to do these for fun for now.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01570 I decided to pick up the latest Transformers and G.I.JOE crossover vehicle which is Megatron as a COBRA H.I.S.S. tank with the action figure of The Baroness. I was pretty excited when I saw this because I always thought that the Transformers and G.I.JOE were from the same universe and wished that they would cross over. Several years back there were some great comic books put out that reimagined that very thing where COBRA discovered the dormant Transformers and converted them into their vehicles. They only seemed to use the Decepticons for that which conveniently set things up for G.I. JOE to find the Autobots and work with them to battle COBRA and the Decepticons. I have heard rumors that another one of these crossover vehicles will be coming and they are going to use Soundwave with the Dreadnoks Thunder Machine vehicle. I’d be first in line to get that one.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01569 We stayed close to home for this April vacation and we didn’t really end up doing that much that was special. Allison took the kids rollerblading early in the week but besides that there was not much else happening. Tonight after jr. Krav we took the kids to a new ice cream place called Frisbie’s. They have something called a bubble cone which is a fancy looking waffle cone that is thicker than other waffle cones making it much more like an actual waffle. Allison and I each tried one of their creations in the bubble cone and they were quite tasty. I got and Oreo blast one with Cookie Monster ice cream because they were out of regular Oreo ice cream. I think that was a great substitute flavor to have. Allison had a strawberry themed bubble cone with raspberry cheesecake ice cream. That was also very good. the kids each got different ice creams in regular waffle cones. Everyone was pretty happy with their selections. Andy and I noticed these silly sodas and I...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01568 Tonight Allison and I went to Foxboro to the Comedy Scene to see a comedian that we learned about from Tik Tok. Jimmy Cash goes by the janitor with stamina on Tik Tok and he brought his brand of humor to The Comedy Scene. I had caught one of his uploads last week where he mentioned that he’d be in Foxboro so I looked it up and got tickets for us to go. The Comedy Scene is inside Helix entertainment an eSports Lounge. There were five comedians. There was the emcee and three comedians that performed before Jimmy did. I enjoyed our emcee very much because he brought up some great nostalgia comedy. the other three comedians were not that great, some laughs but mostly uncomfortable silence. Jimmy was a lot of fun, he was the reason that people were there. The crowd was made up of many teachers and school people along with a couple of retired janitors. After the show Jimmy was by the door to greet everyone and take photos. Allison and I were lucky enough to get o...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01567 Hasbro put out a series of non transforming Transformers toys and I picked up a few of my favorite characters. Soundwave was always one of my favorites because he had all those cool little tapes and his voice was a synthesizer. He was strong and a great spy for the Decepticons. He turned into a little tape deck that fooled people all the time. The tapes he had fit into the tape deck chest cavity, too. As a kid in the 80’s who had different tape recorders and such this was something very cool. He’s recently been reissued and there is a Shattered Glass variant out there as well, Shattered Glass is an alternative history of Transformers where the Decepticons are the good guys and the Autobots are the evil ones.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01566 This afternoon Allison and I went to Lowe’s to see what we thought of the things there that they had for bathrooms. We’re going to be redoing our downstairs bathroom soon and wanted to get some ideas. We were contemplating a smaller shower to see if we could get some shelf space in that room but that probably won’t make much sense. We’ve gotten used to that larger shower. We looked at light fixtures and other items to round out the room and also at a new shower stall and we think we found what we like, however, it is out of stock. always the way.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01565 Tonight Allison and Andy made crepes for dinner. Andy went and pulled out all the stops for toppings. Andy laid out chocolate chips, peanut butter, nutella, powdered sugar, coconut, whipped cream and Allison made a strawberry and a blueberry syrup. We also had bacon and tater tots. The crepes were excellent. Andy was a huge help in making the batter and much more.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01564 I had to go and work at the office tonight. Not that thrilled about it at all. I had intended to go to morning Krav Maga class but I had a headache from the allergies that have been attacking my system the past week. So many tissues used. Stuffed up and sore throat and then headache. I wanted to go to class to celebrate Miss Jen our Saturday morning instructor. I also wanted to get another class in this week. Unfortunately sleep won out. Not that I slept that great but at least it wasn’t as hot as it was on Thursday and I did get some halfway decent sleep. While in the office in my private corner, the place I go to be away from everyone else so that I am not bothered by the noise, I saw this poor little plant. It like our C-Level management is clinging to the office and being in the office. Something that is very outdated and make very little sense for the people in my group and the rest of overnights. I think things are much more productive working from ho...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01563 Tonight began Black Belt Boot Camp. I have three nights of this for the next 3 Friday nights leading up to the Black Belt Pre-Test. Each Boot Camp session goes for about an hour or so. During them we are evaluated and receive all sorts of great feedback about our techniques, things to think about, things to improve. I was in much better shape tonight than the evaluation. It looks like a group of people will run after each boot camp as well. I did not go on the run with them tonight but I will plan on doing so in the coming weeks. One thing that the Senseis did that I don’t recall them doing the first time I went to boot camp was formally have us retie our belts to have Black on Top signifying that we are making a commitment to boot camp. That felt really good to retie that belt. I can’t even imagine how good it will feel to tie on an actual black belt.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01562 This is our jankey fence. It has been taken over by a giant wisteria bush. The vines have climbed up the dying tree and pushed through the fence in many places. I’m going to cut it all back. Then the fence will look even more warped but at least most f the wisteria will be gone.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01560 I took Andy to go rock climbing today. There was no regularly scheduled class because of school vacation week in Rhode Island so the place was empty. We got there just as most of the camp kids were being picked up by their parents and it was just Andy climbing until they were finished. Allison and Eva were off to see the play, Six at PPAC tonight and I had promised Andy that we would go to Royal Fried Chicken for dinner. That place is over by Rock spot and so we tried it out after Andy finished rock climbing. It was very good with plenty of great flavor on the fried chicken. They also served other items and we may go back in another couple weeks when Allison and Eva go to another play on a Wednesday.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01559 We received a review copy of World’s Worst Time Machine by Dustin Brady. This book is going to be released on April 25th. I requested a copy of this book so that Andy could read it because getting Andy to read anything has been difficult. Dustin Brady is said to write books for kids who hate reading books. We’ve actually reviewed one of his books in the past called Trapped in a video Game. That was a whole series that he created and I think that World’s Worst Time Machine may potentially be a whole new series. At least that is what I gathered when I read through the whole book. It took Andy a very long time to read the book because of all the other things that they can be distracted by. However, today I got Andy to finally finish the book. Once the book was done Andy tells me that the book nearly made them cry at the end. It was the best ending ever they said. So I then read the book. It took me two days but it was a very quick read. I read the book all the...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01559 We went to the Boneyard BBQ for my birthday dinner today. We had already gone out for breakfast yesterday so in order to spread things out a bit more we held off until today to enjoy going to Boneyard. Several years back we had taken the kids here and they did not like it because of all the band posters on all the tables. They scared the kids. Now, the kids have musical tastes and were excited to see many of the posters from bands that they now know and enjoy. I was very excited about that. I did want to get a whole family photo but Andy got a little sick and was outside with Allison when I finally remembered that I wanted a photo. So Eva and I took one but he license plate wall. I think that is my go to place in the restaurant to get photos. Lunch was really good and everyone enjoyed what they got. We had some leftovers which we probably will not eat but there you have it. I was glad that we could go there for a birthday lunch together.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01558 Today was Easter Sunday and we got up and the kids had an egg hunt around the house. They got their easter candy and we all got ready for church. We went to Mass at Sacred Heart and Andy was having a tough time with allergies. So, we left our seats and sat in the foyer of the church. That was when Andy had a coughing fit they could exit and cough outside. I didn’t mind sitting back there with Andy. I had picked a bad seat to begin with. A family that goes to church twice a year was behind us. They really did not know how to act or be quiet in the least. I have a history of picking the worst seats. Eventually the church filled up and our vacated seats were filed. After church we went over to The Purple Rooster for breakfast. My dad joined us along with mom and Tara, Shelby, Tim and the kids. We were only missing Erik because he had to get back to work. We had a very nice breakfast, exchanged gifts and it was very enjoyable. the kids even played together outs...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01557 The weather has gotten nicer and it is time for the grill to get put back into service. It is starting to show a few signs of wear on the grates but I think I can order replacement ones to get it back up to former glory. Allison got some hamburger meat and we had burgers for dinner. I may have overdone it on the cheese for mine. I love to put a bunch of cheese on my burgers. It is my favorite thing to add to them. Today we went to see The Super Mario Bros Movie. I had gotten some passes from the promotion company to use and so we did that. We went to Patriot Place and the movie was packed with a kids birthday party. It was actually very nice. the kids were so into the movie and we had a great time enjoying their enjoyment of it.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01556 We stayed in Falmouth last night and today Allison, Andy and I took a trip to main street. We went to Eugene Henry’s Gastronomical Delights to pick up a couple of gifts and find any interesting things to eat. They have all sorts of strange and wonderful things there. The sign that Andy is fake licking is on the store which makes sense because there are so many tasty things inside. We stayed for part of the day and then headed home for all the things we had going on this weekend. I had to get to Krav class tomorrow morning and Eva had D&D. We were also going to go and see the Super Mario Bros Movie. So, it was a quick trip to the Cape and then home.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01555 Today was the wake and funeral for Grandma Bennett. We drove down to Harwich for the wake and got into a ton of traffic at the Sagamore bridge. I had the video tribute with me and was getting antsy that we were not going to make it for the entire wake. Luckily I did not have to worry, we got there when we got there and I was able to get the video playing right away. It was not playing in the room where people were paying respects and so most of my aunts and my parents didn’t even get to see it. Luckily I had it all saved on Google so I could send them the link to the video later. The wake was lovely and most of my cousins were there. A couple who were on the West Coast could not make it but I am glad that they made the trip out a little while back to see Grandma one last time. Otherwise we were all there. The funeral was very nice and Eva did one of the readings. MY Dad did the eulogy which was very well done. My Aunt Cathy even took her flute out to play o...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01554 It is coming up on Easter Weekend and I am in charge of getting the candy for the kids and Allison. I found these giant bags of gummy candy at Big Lots and with the prices of candy these days I think I got a bargain and ran with it. Both of the kids will be getting this and a couple other small things. And then a little Easter Egg hunt with pre-filled eggs. The kids still enjoy it and we love seeing them have fun.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01553 My last living grandparent passed away yesterday morning. My father’s mother, Grandma Bennett died peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of April 3rd. She was a lovely woman who had an incredible heart for her family and with grandma, everyone was family. She had a list of all of her grandchildren, great-grand children and so many others with all of their important birth details. she never forgot anyone’s birthday and she welcomed everyone into the family. If you were a step grandchild twice removed, it did not matter to grandma, you were family and she loved you. That is who she was. I was fortunate to visit with her last month to say good bye. She helped me and my family so much over the years and we are eternally grateful for that. I have all the photos from everyone in the family to put together the tribute video for her wake and funeral which will be happening on Thursday. Things are moving quickly on that and we are all trying to get things taken care ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01552 Today I drove into Boston to meet up with my longtime blogging buddy, Chris Lewis. We’ve caught up a number of times over the years but it has truly been a long while since we’ve been able to see each other. We’ve been on movie trips, road trips and even tour Plymouth Plantation together with our families. That was a fun trip. I think his eldest daughter was Eva’s age at the time and she and Andy bonded well. We met up at an Irish restaurant at one of the hotels nears his conference. He was there for a higher education conference and was really busy but I was lucky that he had a couple of hours between events to catch up for some lunch. We had a really nice talk together and it was great catching up.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01551 It is now two days after my Krav Maga Evaluation. I had it on Friday night from 6:30pm – about 8:30pm. It felt much longer than that. It was a physically exhausting test to see if I could make it into Boot Camp so that I could test for my black belt in June. the evaluation started with the mile run which I completed in 10:07. Not the greatest time but not the worst and not terrible seeing as I have not run in a while. I’ve done a lot of other physical activity but running I have not done. Then when we got in we did the push ups and I did 43 out of the 59 I needed for a 100%. I was sucking wind really badly after the run. Then we did the squats and I did all 82 that I needed to do for 100%. My plank was very weak at 50 seconds. I just could not catch my breath and power through it. So, I know where I need to concentrate my physical work in the next few months. I also know that I have to start doing the physical requirements each day before class so that I do...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01550 This afternoon we took Eva, Andy and Eva’s whole Dungeons and Dragons group to see the Dungeons and Dragons movie. I had suggested to Eva that we try and see it opening weekend and suggested that we bring her group to see it. I was surprised when Andy piped up that they wanted to see the movie as well. Andy has long shied away from action movies and the potential of seeing someone get stabbed and yet the Dungeons and Dragons movie appealed to them. So I got tickets for all of us and we took up the whole back row of the theater. The movie was a fun one. I certainly enjoyed myself and was pleasantly surprised to see a cameo of a certain Dungeons and Dragons group that I knew from my youth. There was a Saturday Morning cartoon of Dungeons and Dragons and I remember watching all of the episodes. A few years back there was a car commercial with people dressed as those characters and I guess they brought them back to have in the movie. It was a great Easter egg f...