BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01940 I’ve been printing my Sensei’s sword, Ashbringer since Friday and we’ve gone through the remainder of two rolls of filament and then an entire roll of white filament. I changed the filament from white to black because I have only black left. I think this whole sword will take the entirety of 3 full rolls of filament and at least a week or so of printing. Apparently the sword has an interesting story and there was a comic book that went along with it and I picked it up to learn more about it. The print itself is about 12 different parts. I’m a 1/3 of the way done.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01939 The squirrels in the tree have had some babies and this little buy nearly died today. We have a neighborhood cat named Jorge and he had this squirrel in his mouth. I came outside and shooed him off and he dropped the squirrel. He was a bit dazed but not bloody. But I do not think that he’d long for this world because he kept coming down from the tree and the cat kept hanging around. So, if he’s going to make it he’s gotta wise up.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01938 It was nice to have the weekend off because I was able to go to watch my niece in her lacrosse game. She’s an excellent player. She’s fierce and very competitive. She scored some of the only points for her team and scored right off the bat. Unfortunately the team did not win but she gave it her all and even played goalie for a half. After the game we went with the whole family to House of Fortune for lunch. We had a great time and the kids got along well. Andy and Dylan talked a bit about Fortnite and when Andy got home they played together for a bit. The boys having some common game to play together might be nice for them.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01937 I had the weekend off so that Allison and I could go to Foxwoods to see the comedian, Drew Lynch. I got tickets for Allison for her birthday. We started off the morning with Andy making us breakfast. Andy made eggs to order. In the afternoon Allison and I drove to Mystic and walked around the shopping area there. We tried to do to the older area of town but could not find a parking spot. So, instead we went to the shops which were fun. Then we went to the Shunock River Brewery. They make their own beers and also have a wood fire pizza oven. The pizza was excellent and we also enjoyed some pretzels. The comedy show was fun. There were two openers who were not that good but the main comedian was so much fun. We really enjoyed his set.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01936 I’m printing a sword for my Sensei. Occasionally he sends me things from Thingiverse and this looked like a really fun thing to print. So I agreed to print it for him. He is very excited about it. I’m excited about it, too. This is the largest print that I have done so far and when this sword is complete, it is going to be huge.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01935 Tonight we had Andy’s play at school. Andy ran the lights for the production. It was called Happily Never After or something like that. It was cute and the kids did a good job. Andy was excited because they had a line in the play, too. One of the characters yelled out, “andy, Hit the Lights!” and Andy replied, “Yes Master!” in their best Igor impersonation. Andy was quite proud of that because they got to make up their line and would not be able to mess it up. Also, some of Andy’s friends came to see the show. It is great to see kids supporting Andy at their new school.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01934 Today was a busy day of running here and there. After school I took Andy to rock climbing. When we were done Andy and I stopped at McDonalds. There was a sun shower and because of that we had a great rainbow as we were going through the drive through. We had to grab dinner on the go because we had to go to Feehan for a college fair with Eva. It is a bit early but we did talk with a few colleges. After the college fair we went over to Bliss to support Andy’s school by getting some desserts. We had a fun time and enjoyed our desserts.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01933 I ordered myself a new T-shirt around the same time that I ordered some new stickers. This one is rather obscure because it is of Soundwave’s tapes but not the first wave of tapes, these were later ones. I do like some of the names of the songs. They did a riff on Meatloaf’s Bat out of Hell with Ratbat out of Hell. Ratbat was the name of one of the tapes.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01932 I added a couple new things to my Wheeljack display. I ordered a couple of stickers from and online shop and they had a minimalist sticker for Wheeljack plus one that was from his original artwork from the box from 1984. I may get the 184 one as a t-shirt someday.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01931 My Aunt and Uncle sent me a couple of LEGO sets for my birthday. One of the sets was in a birthday card and it was a LEGO ninjago mini-tank. I built it last night at work when I had some downtime.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01930 Yesterday Eva had me take a few photos of her in her costume with this tree. It is one of the prettiest parts of the yard. So far the rain hasn’t knocked everything off the tree like it did to the one in the side yard. I’m not sure how long the blossoms will be on there but they look great right now. Pretty quiet day sleeping and I slept fairly well. However, not past 3:30 because that was when Eva’s friend Ollie came over. The girls had loud enthusiastic conversation that I was unable to sleep through so I got up to play some video games before heading to work. It was nice for Eva to have a friend over for the afternoon. She had a great time .

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01929 On the last day of vacation I decided that it would be a good day to get breakfast from Boro Bagels in downtown Attleboro. This is a fairly new restaurant and I have been enjoying their salt bagels with Bacon Scallion cream cheese. That is exactly what Andy chose for their bagel. Eva decided on a cinnamon sugar bagel with plain cream cheese. Allison got to Slick Vic sandwich on an onion bagel. The Slick Vic is Sausage, Egg, Cheese, Hash Brown and Chipotle Ketchup. I decided on the Wake and Bake which was Bacon, Shaved Steak, Egg, Hashbrown and cheese on a Sesame Bagel. These were both great sandwiches. In the afternoon Allison and Eva went to SMSH to organize the after care closet. They had a big job to do and this helps Eva get her volunteer hours at school. When Eva came home she filmed some videos for Tik Tok and got into one of her cosplay costumes. She had me take a few photos of her for her Instagram. She did a great job on painting the 3D printed hor...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01928 We came home from the Cape yesterday and today we took a trip to Hopkinton to enjoy the open day of Snappy Dogs. Before that, however, Eva and I went to Krav class. It was sparring day and Evan and I did some sparring together. She is super quick. We made it to Snappy Dogs a little after noon and got into line. The ladies at the cart were very excited to see us. We ordered two big dogs and a Great Dane for Andy. Andy has asked for Great Danes almost every time we go there and it has only been a couple of times that we’ve said yes. Today Andy’s stomach was pretty empty so it was a go for a Great Dane. Andy polished that off pretty quickly, too. This was the first time that they put chopped onions on the hot dog and decided that they liked it that way. I got dill relish, chopped onions and sriracha mayo on it plus mustard and celery salt. I’m not sure what Allison got on hers but she did pick out one of the gourmet toppings and really enjoyed it. On the way h...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01927 Today we left the house in Falmouth and headed to Brewster to visit my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Wayne. Along the way we hopped over to Duke’s Donut Worx in Mashpee Commons. We picked up 6 donuts to bring with us to enjoy together. They had some really nice donuts this month. We enjoyed our donuts and had a nice visit together. Then my cousin came over to drop off her kids for Aunt Cindy and Uncle Wayne to babysit. I had picked up some Bluey playsets for the kids to enjoy. It took a little time for the kids to warm up to our kids. We eventually went inside the house and were playing with a remote control BB8 that I gave my cousin. The kids were having so much fun and giggling like crazy. They started to warm up to Eva and Andy. Then we had lunch and during lunch Andy entertained the kids. Andy kept trying to get my cousin to eat his lunch and so would tell him that he couldn’t get a high five until he finished lunch. Andy had both kids giggling and then they wen...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01926 Allison and I took a nice walk around today while at the Cape. When we got to the harbor we saw plenty of ducks all over the place. These two were sitting on some steps leading to the beach. We had a nice day hanging out at the house. My Aunt Connie came over and we had a Turkey dinner for lunch. It has been nice ot relax on the Cape.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01925 Allison and Eva and I went to Walmart to pick up some batteries for the new salt and pepper shakers. While I was there I found a special two pack of Transformers figures for $20. This included Perceptor and Wheeljack. I already had the wheeljack but wasn’t sure so I grabbed it anyway. Upon leaving I was looking through the batteries and a guy came up to me and asked to see my shirt better. He got excited and stated, “Ultra Magnus!” While, technically, this could have been Ultra Magnus it was a humorous T-shirt depicting Optimus Prime as “Amazon Prime”. We started talking and come to find out he was a huge Transformers fan, too. He was also a collector of Transformers and we showed each other photos of our collections. It was a totally strange, yet cool, exchange.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01924 We headed down to the Cape today after I had a little sleep. We’re going to enjoy a little time on the Cape for April vacation. We enjoyed a nice dinner with Mom and Dad. Dad went and picked us up some Paul’s Pizza. It was very good but apparently smaller than usual according to Andy. The kid is a trip sometimes. Then I worked from the sunporch for the night.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01923 Earlier this week I turned fifty and I can no longer wear a shirt that Allison had gotten me that said “Forty Something Children in Disguise”. I had posted to Facebook that I could no longer wear the shirt because I had aged out. So, Allison got me a new version that says “Fifty Something Children in Disguise”. I had actually looked for a shirt like that but did not find it. Glad that Allison did because I can wear it for the next decade.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01922 My sister Tara sent me this great new t-shirt. It is perfect for me. It is the Mickey Mouse Symbol with tons of Marvel icons all over it. I’ll make sure to wear it this year for Free comic Book Day.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01921 today I had a great day for adding items to my Transformers collection. I had pre-ordered a set of five of the G1 characters because the set included a Wheeljack figure. I was so excited about this because these figures are cartoon accurate in color. This set arrived in the mail today. After krav class I went off to Target and there I found another Wheeljack figure. That one I had been searching for ever since I missed out on getting it via pre-order from Hasbro Pulse. I’m glad I missed out because today at Target they had Target Circle week and Transformers were 30% off. So, I picked up the Wheeljack figure and also the Blaster and Brawn figures. I did not have the original Brawn figure. It was one of the earlier minicons and I always thought I had that figure but I did not. I also thought I had the original Bumblebee and yet I did not own that one either. So, I’m adding this Brawn figure into my display as well. The Wheeljack figure is awesome, it actuall...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01920 On the day after my birthday I stopped at the comic book store and picked up the most recent issue of Transformers. This new run of the book is the best I’ve read. When I got there I did not have this particular comic in my pull box, it had a different cover but I had seen this cover and I knew I wanted it. It looks amazing.You have Starscream crushing one of Soundwave’s tapes and yanking out the tape. Kids today would have no idea what that even was not to mention how cool it looks.As an 80’s kid who had a ton of tapes and has had mishaps like that before it was such a cool cover. The LEGO sets are from my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Wayne. They picked out the most perfect set for me, too. I was going to get that set for myself and even considered getting three of them to do all of them. The camera reminds me of my father’s old pentax camera. The one I learned how to take photos with. I’m looking forward to building this.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01919 I am now a half century old. Wow. Time has flown. I started the day off with my Krav Maga class. I was a bit disappointed that only one person acknowledged my birthday. Miss Jen did while we were sparring. when I got out of class I had a message from Cousin’s Maine Lobster that let me know that they were giving me a free soup for my birthday and as luck would have it they were going to be at Chris Gasbarro’s today. I’ve been waiting for them to come back. I placed an order for Lobster tots with extra meat plus the free lobster bisque. I posted this to my Facebook and I knew that Allison would see it. She was jealous because she was at school. Of course, I knew I’d be dropping by her school to share some of the tots with her. It was a very tasty lunch. After school we had dinner as a family and Allison got me a key lime pie for my birthday “cake”. It was so good. Then Allison and I headed to Providence because we were off to see comedian Kumail Nanjiani...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01918 Today is the last day of my forties. Tomorrow I turn 50 and today is the last day I can work the shirt from my daily photo. I have actually been wearing it for 2 days at this point because I posted a photo similar to this one the other day for Facebook. That got a lot of activity. This morning I went to a funeral for one of my high school friend’s older brother. I had not seen this friend in nearly 20 years. However, he saw me in the church and was glad that I was there. We talked for a while after the funeral and caught up a bit. Then Mom and Dad took me to lunch at Box Seats. We finished up there and then I went to pick up the kids and my parents went back to my house to get ready to watch the eclipse. Allison was able to get home in time for us to watch the eclipse together in the back yard. It was cool but I hadn’t realized that we weren’t in the path of totality so it wasn’t spectacular like many other people travelled to see. But it was nice to go ahe...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01917 Today we finally got to see all the hard work that Eva put in to Shrek The Musical. She worked on the costuming for the play and has been going hard all week long to finish everything up. Today was the last performance of the play and we attended the show along with Tara, Shelby, Mem and Grandfather. Allison’s friends Jen and Colleen also watched the show with us and Paul and Laurie from marriage prep met up with us to see the show, too. Eva had a great time at the show and she was ecstatic after the show. She was riding on the high of a job well done and being part of a team that put on a fantastic production. I was very impressed with the show. Everyone loved it. Eva stayed after for a bit to finish up organizing and cleaning things up. She’ll do more later in the week but by the time we got Andy home we turned around to pick Eva back up.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01916 Our Andy is super thoughtful. Today, before when I went over to the Marriage Prep course Andy asked if they could walk up to get Boba. andy also wanted to get us a dozen mochi donuts. Andy only had enough for 4 donuts because they did not take taxes into account. That is okay since Andy now knows to factor that in next time. at first I was a bit reluctant to have Andy walk downtown on their own but any time Andy wants to do something other than play VR I’ve go to say yes. I was all over the place at Andy’s age on my own and my parents had no way to track me. I have the ability to track Andy’s phone with mine. It is a very nice feature to have. The rest of the afternoon I had marriage prep with Allison. We did our financial talk and then went to church with the team. It was a nice afternoon. Then we got home and took Andy out to Bliss for dinner. We had a nice time there together, too.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01915 Nearly Four years ago I backed a Kickstarter campaign for a video game that combined adventuring with boxing. I had started Krav Maga about a year earlier than that and was interested in anything that would help enhance my training. Quell looked like the perfect fit. The original kickstarter had the device as gloves but as they worked on it the design changed to these hand held joysticks and then these attach to wristbands that also attach to resistance bands that attach to a chest strap so that you can have some resistance when you throw punches. I didn’t get too far in setting up the game, though, because I had to go into the office tonight. So glad that I have the rest of the weekend off. I can’t wait to begin playing.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01914 This is not a sponsored post or anything like that. This is my tube of Doctor Sheffield’s toothpaste and it is my favorite toothpaste ever. Great taste and I love the metal tube because you get the most out of the whole tube. I also took this at close to midnight because I had not taken a photo for the day and wasn’t about to start over again.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01914 The other day I was searching for some things on Amazon and I was trying to find the Origins Wheeljack figure that I cannot find anywhere. I noticed that there was a new Transformers Funko Pop figure, an Optimus Prime figure that has lights and sounds. When you tap the top of his head Prime will say two phrases and then will also make the transforming sound. I added this to the shelf that has all my Optimus Prime figures.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01913 I’ve gotten many of my Transformers figures out to display them and today I found another box of figures that I knew I had but hadn’t found previously. I knew that I had many figures that were updated figures that were reimagined G1 characters. One such character was Warpath the tank. I think they did an excellent job making this guy look like a total beast. Warpath was small in the show but powerful. He was part of the second wave of minicons. I think that I’ve gotten all that I’m going to take down from the attic for now. Got a couple more things on order to add to the display. I may try and find the Alternators and Binaltech figures and maybe some of the Botcon sets but maybe not. Depends on how many more times I want to go back up to the attic.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01912 The bulbs in our bathroom lights have started to need replacing. I am not sure since the bulbs apparently have a 13 year life and we finished the bathroom last Spring. 13 years goes quickly I guess. April Fools joke on me I guess. And so I went to Lowe’s and picked up more light bulbs, I even took this photo with me to make sure that I had the correct bulbs. Of course, I messed it up and instead of getting soft white I got bright white. I did not realize until I had replaced the two missing bulbs out of the five bulbs. They were the two in the middle and you wouldn’t notice it right off but if you looked long enough you’d see that the lights did not match. Oh well, gotta go back to Lowe’s and get some new ones.