BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02001 Allison and the kids headed to the Cape today for the start of Science School tomorrow. I had to stay home for work and I had a gift certificate to Bliss that shelby had given me for my birthday. It still had some money on it so I went and had dinner there and then got an ice cream cone after dinner. Glad I opted for a cup instead of just a cone because it melted fast. It was very tasty, though.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02000 I felt like having some ice cream sandwiches tonight so on the way to work I picked up a box to share with my group. I think it is the first time in a long time that we have all been together. All five of us. It is no secret that I dislike being in the office. It is not that I dislike my co-workers. I like this group very much. Everyone is a good person who works very hard. I used to be the one who did special treat nights at the office but since we’ve mostly been working from home that didn’t make much sense. We very rarely are all together in the same office, too. We were going to be together tonight so I picked up some ice cream sandwiches.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01999 The other day the whole family downloaded an app called Finch. the app is a wellness app to help you remember to do things like simple tasks every day. For the most part we downloaded it to help Andy out remembering to do things that we keep reminding them to do. Not sure if it will help out but we are trying. Allison made this special sign in the bathroom to also help with the remembering. I think she did a really nice job making the sign.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01998 I still haven’t opened all 9 of my Blokees Transformers figures yet but these are the ones that I have opened so far. They are pretty fun to assemble and I enjoy them so I am taking my time. There is a creator that I like on Tik Tok. He’s around my age, he works in IT and the other day he changed up his regular content and talked about his Transformers figures. He as talking about how Optimus Prime was his first figure and he showed how it was loved over time. I commented that Wheeljack was my first figure and he took my comment and created another video talking about his Wheeljack figure. There isn’t a way on Tik Tok for me to share a photo specifically with the creator. I’d definitely like him to see my collection.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01997 Today we took a family trip down to Ninigret Park State Park in Charlestown, Rhode Island. We went there because artist Thomas Dambo created two new Trolls to display there. Thomas takes recycled wood and other materials to create his trolls. These are very large art installations and they are always very fun and interesting to see. We saw some a few years ago at Bernheim Forest and Arboretum in Kentucky when we visited Tara. There were several trolls there spread out throughout the park. There are only the two in Charlestown and they are fairly close together. The trolls are Greta and Eric. We visited Great first and then off to Eric. It was a nice easy walk to get to each one. We were scouting the location for a potential future visit with Allison’s parents. After our walk we had lunch at Monahan’s Clam Shack & Restaurant. It was an okay place with some cornhole sets and picnic tables. The clamcakes and chowder were great and Allison loved her clam roll, wh...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01996 Eva has been working on a new cosplay and with it a whole new wig. This one she has been styling for a few days now and tonight she came in to show me so I had to get a great photo of her hard work. Today was our last stripe tests for a while. We’re taking two months off from Krav for the Summer and we both had pretty hard stripe tests today. The drills were intense. Eva did a great job and I moved up to a green stripe on my belt. I also am having my 5 year strip put onto my belt while I am away. Today I learned that my black belt partner, Pastor Dave, is no longer going to be training. I am going to miss him but I think that Knee Replacement Dave is going to miss him more. KRD just got his black belt and has been looking forward to training with us on the black belt side of things. Now he has to wait for 2 months for me to return.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01995 I’ve been having some very tasty lemon treats lately. Misfits Market has some great lemon items. I get some low sugar lemon sours and Allison found these Lemon Sea Salt cookies and they were very tasty. You wouldn’t think that lemon and salt would go together but somehow it works. I picked up the Del’s ice cream and it has a very subtle lemon flavor to the ice cream and I enjoyed that very much. No one else seemed to so I had it for myself.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01994 Tonight was the first Food Truck night of 2024 at Capron Park. They have a food truck night there three times in the Summer. We try to make it to as many as we can because it is a fun night to try many different foods. Tonight I chose the General Tso’s Chicken tacos. The taco portion was a scallion pancake. I had the option of two General’s chicken or one General’s chicken and one Butter Chicken. I went with the option of getting one of each in order to try more things. I probably should have just stayed with the General’s chicken because I really enjoyed that one and it worked great with the scallion pancake. Allison weent with a Falafel, Eva with General’s chicken on Fries and Andy went with Mac and Cheese Fries and a Grilled Cheese sandwich. The way we work this event is that everyone gets $25. We bring a blanket and also drinks from home. That way we aren’t wasting money on beverages. We each go around and decide what we want and place our orders and me...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01993 I was in Target today and found this Studio Series Sunstreaker figure. I hadn't been buying many Transformers lately but his one stood out to me. I don't see many Sunstreaker figures. It was a pretty unique figure and so I picked it up. It'll be a good addition to my collection.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01992 While running errands this morning I stopped by Walmart and found this Venom LEGO motorcycle. It was a fun build. I haven't build many LEGO sets in a while but have a bunch to work on. I'll be pulling them out of the attic soon. I may even have to start making more videos.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01991 The replacement parts for the grill arrived and today after krav I installed the parts. I was worried that it would be complicated. It was super easy and and I replaced 5 of the gas tubes and the hoods on them plus the ignitor. Everything fit exactly and I was able to fire it up right away. I got it real hot and then cleaned off the grates. I even flipped them over and cleaned the other side. I was going to take the photo before I fired up the grill again but forgot. Tonight I made some hot dogs on the grill and they were perfectly grilled. So glad to have the grill back to good standing.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01990 Now that the 3D printer is back in action I've been tasked with printing a trident for Eva. A different trident was what messed up the printer in the first place but this time it seems to be printing okay. I had to try many times to get the right size to attach it to the PVC pipe.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01989 A couple of years ago I got my first pair of Hayabusa boxing shoes for Krav. I got them before my black belt test. I had tried several different shoes before them and they never worked quite the way I wanted. The Hayabusa ones worked out very well but I wore them out and ripped both shoes recently. So, it was time to get new ones. This time I picked not just blue shoes but blue and yellow ones. I like how they look like they could go with an overall Wolverine from the X-Men aesthetic. However, that would mean buying some new Wolverine themed gloves. I'm not ready for new gloves yet. I probably should have gone with the black and red ones to go along with my Iron man gloves. If they had red and gold that would have worked even better.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01988 I noticed today that the lilies have started blooming around the yard. I've also noticed that they have begun to spread out more, which I want to happen. More lilies around means more beautiful flowers and less ugly weeds. The patch of lilies where we have the cats buried has not begun to bloom quite yet but soon enough we'll see those as well. I noticed today that my grill hasn't been working very well so I have ordered some replacement parts and will be replacing the gas tubes and hoods so hopefully it will work better once again. IT took forever tonight to grill a steak and even then just didn't feel quite right, even though it was clearly cooked.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01987 Today was Father’s Day. I had to sleep most of the day because I worked last night but at least I was able to work from home. When I woke up we had bugers from the Meat Bar and Allison made some Mexican Street Corn macaroni salad. We had a very nice dinner before I had to go back to work. The kids and Allison made me cards and gave me a gift card to Fireflies. We'll have to go there very soon. Later on we had some hot fudge sundaes. Allison brought a giant tub of hot fudge from school home and we now have 3 mason jars full of it. She also brought home a ton of whipped cream cans, too. These were leftovers from the ice cream socials at school. today was also my parent’s 51st wedding anniversary. I called them later on tonight before work.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01986 I started putting together more of my Blokees figures last night and got the metallic version of Optimus Prime. I put Megatron together today. That is the regular version but I suspect that there is also a metallic version. These are blind boxes after all and there are always some sort of chase figures. So far I've found Optimus, Megatron, Ratchet and Skywarp. I have 5 boxes left and there are nine total characters in the first series so I hope I don't get any doubles.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01985 Yesterday Andy went to school in two different flannel designs and sleep pants. Today I went to make sure that they were ready to go and Andy's laying in their bed in a full on suit. Andy decided that it would be funny to wear a suit on their last day of 6th grade. I can't argue there, it was funny. I laughed pretty good when I saw this. Andy's teachers noticed and one called Andy "dapper". So that is good. Another good thing was that we got Andy's report card today and Andy had all A's. Andy worked very hard this year and it was a great decision to move them over to public school. Andy has been thriving there. This afternoon we went to the movies as a family to see Inside Out 2. We loved the first movie and Andy had asked if we could see this on the last day of school. so, I got tickets and we went. The movie was a very good sequel to the original. The main character, Riley, is growing up and so in addition to the emotions from the ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01984 Allison made me a set of these tshirts for myself and the 50+ crowd from the morning Krav classes. I gave them out to people last Thursday with instructions to wear them today and make it a surprise. They are not official shirts for the uniform so technically should not be worn in class. But for a one time thing we wore them as a joke. Unfortunately there were only 3 out of the six of us who had them there to wear them. But Miss Jen loved hers and she was so excited to wear it, her enthusiasm more than made up for the numbers. Today was the last day of school for both Allison and Eva. After Eva’s Jr. Krav class this afternoon we went over to a new restaurant, Campfire, for dinner. We went to celebrate the end of the school year. Andy does have a half day tomorrow but we had nothing planned for dinner so we decided that tonight was going to be a celebration dinner out kind of night. The food was excellent. I got a short rib gilled cheese sandwich. It was ama...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01983 Allison is going to be wearing this inflatable Poke Ball tomorrow for the last day of school. All the teachers are wearing either inflatable costumes or pool floats. Should be fun.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01982 I’m feeling much better today. Went to class this morning and got to congratulate one of my friend for making it on their Black Belt test. He completed it with a full on sinus infection. He was determined. So glad that he earned his belt. He’ll be going back to partnering with my partner because they had been partners before his knee surgeries. Plus, I’m going to be off for 2 months of the Summer. After class I picked up Eva and we got bagels a Boro Bagel in Downtown Attleboro. It is a new bagel place and is really good. We got bagels and I also got some bagel chips and their new Oreo cream cheese to dip them in. Tonight after dinner Andy let us know that they had a project tomorrow at school and that they needed pool noodles and balloons for the project. So, Allison and I went to Big Lots to get them and while we were out we also ran to Bandidos to pick up a gift card for Eva’s art teacher. Eva had independent study art this semester and we were glad that ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01981 I decided that I need a second screen for working at home so I found this new screen on Amazon for $60. It connects to my laptop via a micro HDMI cable and usb c so it is very convenient. I’ll probably use to to have the alert monitor screen up as well as the group chat so that I don’t miss out on any messages or alerts. I’ll use the main screen for active work and stuff. I was pretty knocked out most of the day today. I must have eaten something bad at work on Saturday and that caught up with me last night and has been in my system most of the day. I’m hoping that it clears up before class tomorrow. I came back from the Cape early because I had to pick Eva up from school because she is in exams this week. Today was her second day of exams. She’s had four of them so far and two more left to go this week. So far she’s doing well with them.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01980 This morning I finished work and drove to Cape Cod to my parent’s house to visit with them for my Dad’s birthday. He had a classic car show that afternoon so I took a short nap and then headed over to the Falmouth Harbor bandshell to see the show. The weather turned fairly quickly after I had arrived so I got one pass around the show to see all the cars and then I ran home to get my Dad’s van so that I could bring it back and help pack up all the stuff to bring to the storage locker that the car club has. One of the more interesting cars was this one. I guess it does drag races or something, looks fast. I’m not sure what the whole powered by water thing means but that is interesting. We cleaned up from the show and then went home and Dad opened some of his birthday gifts. We got him the shirt in the photo above. I thought it was appropriate. I do love an interesting shirt. You’ll see later this week. Tonight we went over to the Coonamessett for dinner. I go...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01979 Andy hosted a D & D session for their friends today. Andy’s been gearing up for this afternoon for a while and has been so excited. They’ve been researching how to host D & D games and even created a very detailed map for their friends. Andy had three friends over and I love how diverse their friend group is. These four guys are so very different but get along very well. They were so silly and goofy together. The boys were also very polite to Allison and I. They had plenty of snacks and I picked up individual pizzas for everyone to enjoy their own. After the game they threw the football around and then played some super smash bros on the Switch. It was a good time had by all the kids.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01978 I had seen the LEGO Burger truck online and thought that would be a great set to build. I was in Best Buy last night and saw that they had it so I picked it up. I also picked up a gaming headset for my nephew for his birthday. He got a Switch at Christmas and didn’t have one yet.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01977 I’ve slowly been trying to get the roses to grow over the trellis and it is now at the halfway point. I also do have to get the vines out of there because no matter how many times I clear it out it comes back stronger and stronger. It is nice, however to see so many roses.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01976 Andy asked Allison to make them a special shirt. Andy wanted a shirt that said Cheese in a cheese font and also to have a piece of fruit on it. Andy has a surreal sense of humor. Andy wore this shirt to school today and I was hoping to hear that people got a kick out of the shirt but no one mentioned it to them. Today was also Andy’s last day of Rock Climbing Classes and the final band concert of the year. We went to climbing and then zipped back for the concert. We were joined by my parents and Uncle Jim who was home from California. The concert was good and Andy did a nice job. After the concert we went over to Bliss with Uncle Jim. Andy and I had some dinner since we missed getting something on the way to the concert. I thought we’d stop at McDonalds but the line was about 10 minutes long and we only had that much time to get to the concert.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01975 My sister gave me these great wooden Avengers symbols for my 50th birthday. I found some space on the wall and put them up today. I put them right next to my Twinkly light display. I’ll have to add in some Avengers themed gif on that to complete the look.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01974 I found these new Blokees Transformers figures online and they finally arrived. They are very much like LEGOs. You build them very much like model kits. They looks really nice too when they are built. I got nine in the case and I hope that I got one of each and maybe something special.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01973 June is Pride month. Attleboro does a pride flag raising at the city hall. Allison, Eva and I walked downtown to participate in the event and to also see the vendor fair at the Balfour Riverwalk. It was a very nice ceremony and there were some great vendors at the fair. Although, they did raise the flag upside down. I haven’t been back to see if they corrected that or not. The vendor fair had a lot of good vendors. There was one person who was selling lots of 3D Printed items. They were quite good. We also got to talk to the people form the new bookstore downtown and we talked with people from the Attleboro Public Library as well. We also saw the new murals that had been painted at the riverwalk. On the way home Eva noticed a turtle that had crossed the road. I snapped this photo of her and also her new cape. She got that for one of the streams that she watches. I thought that she had made it.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01972 My usual routine on those nights were I have to work in the office is to pop into Five Below for a couple of snacks and to check out the place. For a while I was able to run home during my break and finish out the night from home. Now I have to stay at the office and when I take my break I find a place and take a nap. I had an old camp pillow that I had gotten when I went to Joshua Tree years ago but it is all lumpy and has no real shape. So, I picked up a cheap pillow to use when I take naps in the office.