BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02061 I fall prey to nostalgia ads all the time from Temu. The other day on my Facebook page I saw that they had a Nintendo NES controller rug and also pillows. Well, I got them. The pillows were actually pillow shams and luckily that worked out for me because I had the pillows for the futon already. They were the perfect size. The rug was also a great size for my office and maybe it will prevent my chair from rolling all over the place.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02060 Now that I have the new car I am making it my own. That begins with accessories. There were some pieces that I had on the old car that I am repurposing. While I no longer have a push to start button in the car I do still have the Transformers start button cover and I have it covering the volume button on the radio. I think I’m going to spray paint that a new color soon, maybe all red or maybe a metallic color. Not sure. I picked up the visor and you can tell by the photo that it looks a little wonky. It is just a tiny bit too big for my car so it looks a bit squished when it is fully opened. I also got some new silicone license plate holders in red. The car is going to have a black and red theme to it. I’m adding a few red elements to the car. I started with the vent blades on the air conditioner, they are metallic red. I also got a steering wheel cover and that has a red line to it. The windshield screen has red on it so there is that. As More things come I’ll m...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02059 Eva started her Junior Year today. Granted this was not a full day of school and the whole school was not there, just the Juniors and Seniors, but she was back in uniform today. It was a chance for the students to go through all of their classes quickly and meet with every teacher so that they could learn what materials they would need for the year. Eva did go to school yesterday for an hour or so to meet with her little sisters. As juniors she gets a few new students as her little sisters and helps them out in their first year. eva seemed pretty happy with her classes and teachers this year. She’ll definitely have more of challenge with AP Lit and some fun things, too like Astronomy and, of course, Art. While Eva and Allison were off at school I decided to make some egg sandwiches for breakfasts. I made six sausage Egg and Cheese sandwiches and 6 bacon egg and cheese sandwiches. I had a little production line going there. Andy came at the end and helped me wrap ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02058 Eva and I are headed to the Granite State Comic Convention in September. We are both going to be doing some cosplay at the event. I’ve been watching all the seasons of Supernatural on the weekend and there is a character on there that I figured I could cosplay rather easily. Beard, beat up Hat, jeans and flannel. So, I found a good flannel to use at Savers plus a vest, which is too small but should still work.  I also asked Allison to make me a shirt. Mind you, the character does not have a shit like this and “2 Idjits Garage” is not a thing but I think that fans of the show will catch the reference and get a kick out of it. Bobby Singer, the character I’m going to cosplay always calls the two brothers in the show, the two main characters Sam and Dean, he calls them idjits. Dean also works on his baby, his car, his 1967 Impala all the time and would be a mechanic if he and his brother weren’t supernatural hunters. So I thought of 2 Idjits Garage. I hope that ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02057 I spent the morning and early afternoon at the Kia dealership today. I test drove two 2024 Kia Fortes. I knew that was the car that I wanted. This will be my fourth one in 12 years. Kia Fortes are really reliable cars and I have enjoyed driving all of mine. This time around, however I opted not to go for the GT model because it would have made the payment about $40 more a month. So I went with the LXS model. It is not a sporty looking as the GT and definitely does not have all the bells and whistles of that model, but is was very comparable to my current car, which was a GT version. This new car does not have a push to start but rather an old school key is used. It does have something that my other car did not have and that is wireless connection to Android Auto. This is a cool feature because my phone uses Android Auto and that allows me to listen to my Audible audio books or to my Spotify account through the car speakers. With my previous car I had to plug it i...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02056 Today my aunt and Uncle called us and asked if we were around to meet up for lunch at Bliss. They were up this way with their grandkids and the kids wanted to see my kids. Specifically their grandson wanted to see Andy. The kids have played with Andy a couple of times now and they really enjoy spending time with Andy. They had a fun time at lunch today, too. After lunch my Aunt and Uncle took their grandkids over to the zoo. My aunt messaged me later to tell me that almost all the animals were out and active. She’d never had that kind of luck before. I spent the afternoon taking the stickers off of my car because tomorrow I’m heading to the Kia dealership to lease a new car. Lots of scraping had to be done. Luckily Allison had a special tool for her Cricut that worked great on getting the claw mark stickers off. They were the hardest ones to do.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02055 The folks at General Mills wanted us to be ready for the school season. They sent me a package of some great stuff including Super Mac from Annie’s, a bunch of granola bars and some new cereal from Cascadian Farm. They also provided us with a cute little sign for back to school. One of those signs that kids hold up on their first day back. Eva will use it Thursday and Andy next Tuesday. Andy already called dibs on the mac and cheese. Some of the granola bars are nut free which is great because of all the kids with nut allergies.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02054 My Transformers X Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover toy arrived today. The figure is called Party Wallop. He converts from robot turtle to the TMNT Party Wagon. The figure comes with 4 different bandanas to indicate one of the four turtles and also a spot for the letter of their names on the belt buckle. So essentially the figure could be Donnie, Leo, Mikey or Raph. I love how it came out and love that the packaging allows me to see the actual figure. I hope that they do the Knight Rider one like that, too.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02053 Today we took a drive down to Mystic Aquarium for a last family adventure of the Summer. Allison starts work on Monday and Eva goes back a couple of times during next week. Andy still has a whole week of Summer break before they go back. So, today was the best day for us to go to the aquarium. We borrowed our friend Preston’s Feinstein card. Andy had one but I accidentally tossed it away when cleaning out my wallet. Andy will get a new one next month. With that card families get a free child and adult admission to the Mystic Aquarium. We hadn’t been there in several years. It was the kids’ idea to go to an aquarium. We had a nice time and spent a peaceful walk through the facility and checked out all the exhibits. Andy loved seeing all the animals through the looking bubbles because it distorted them. Both kids loved the beluga whales and also the penguins. We even watched the sea lion show. It was definitely geared to little kids but it was fun to watch, too. Wh...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02052 With the Summer coming to an end it is getting to be time to start 3D printing again. I shy away from printing in the Summer because using the printer makes my office so hot and that is much more conducive to the Winter. Plus it has been humid and printing in humidity doesn’t work as well. So, I found some glowing filament and I’ll be using it to make some items soon. I also picked up some Purple and Black filament that will arrive later in the week. This morning Andy and I had dentist appointments for fillings. I had one replaced and a new one. Andy had a new one. I had a lot of novocaine and it was so much that I was numb for hours afterwards. My tongue was half numb even as I went to bed.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02051 Today I had jury duty in Fall River. I got there for 8:00am to check in for a day of sitting and waiting. When I checked in I was given number 211. I sat down and watched the movie Bruce Almighty, almost to the end. Then we were led upstairs to the courtroom to be selected for jury duty. However, I was not part of the first group to talk with the judge for selection. I went with the rest of the people to an empty courtroom. We sat there until lunchtime and then were given an hour to go and eat something. I did not want to venture far so I picked up a donut and then headed back to the courtroom. We sat there until about 3:45 pm and then were released for the day. Other groups were brought out to the judge but I was never part of any of the groups. So, a long day of waiting. On the way home I stopped by Chartley Country Store and picked up some burgers and buns and some other things for a cookout. We had invited Andy’s friend Preston over for a movie night in...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02050 This morning we went out on the water on our paddle boards. The boys inflated 6 paddleboards for us to use. One deflated while on the water but they made out okay with it. It was nice to get out on the water this morning. It was nice and calm. We hung out until the early afternoon and then headed home. We had a nice last trip of the Summer to the Cape.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02049 We went to the Cape for the next couple of days and tonight we celebrated my sister Shelby’s birthday. We enjoyed some pizza on the sun porch together and then a Carvel ice cream cake and cupcakes that Andy helped Auntie Tara bake. It was a nice day to spend with the family.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02048 tonight was the last Food Truck event at Capron Park. We were fortunate enough to get to each on this season and each one was excellent. Tonight Allison got some tacos, Andy did loaded Mac and Cheese fries. Eva did her usually with General’s chicken on Friskies Fries. I got some beef empanadas that were excellent. After we ate our meal we got some desserts. andy got a special churro and Allison a vanilla churro, Eva got chocolate covered strawberries on a stick and I got an ice cream sandwich with Cookie Monster ice cream. It was a nice night and we were lucky for the weather to be nice not only this night but for each of the nights this Summer for enjoying the food trucks.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02047 But forced to Work. I got a new shirt a few weeks ago and it has become my work at the office shirt. It is no secret that I dislike having to go to the office to do something that I can 100% do at home. I had been wearing another shirt every time I came to the office and even wore it two days in a row simply to see if anyone would noticed. But when you are in the office with maybe 4 other people not much gets said. The building is completely empty except for my group of 4 people on the second floor and about 6 people on the 4th floor with my cousin Shaun. We’re losing one of the people in our group and I have been trying to convince Shaun to come to my group. But he is not. He should, but is not. You might notice that I haven’t shaved in a while. I’m trying to grow out the beard and hair a bit for the Granite State Comicon. I’m doing two costumes this time, one with Eva and one on my own. The one on my own is a guy from the TV show Supernatural. He wears a hat, h...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02046 Eva has been after me to assemble her trident for her next cosplay. If you look closely there is a little gap in the middle. I have some epoxy to apply to it to make it stronger. I just need to add it to the trident. I haven’t done that yet. I’ll have to take care of it this week.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02046 Eva and I went over to America’s Best Defense today. I picked up my black belt because my five year stripe was added to it in the last couple of months while we were on vacation. We went in person because we had some serious things to discuss with Sensei. We withdrew from the school. Eva has a lot of extra responsibilities this school year in the theater. This will not allow her much time to commit to krav training. Yes, she is so close to her black belt but at this time she doesn’t have an interest in pursuing it and if I know anything about earning a black belt, it is that you must be all in. You have to be fully committed to achieving this goal and if you heart is not in it then you will not earn it. Eva is young and she has time to go back to this if she ever wants to start again. As for me, it was time to move on. We also could benefit from not having to pay almost $300 a month to train. I’ve certainly loved my time at ABD but it is time to move on to someth...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02045 We’ve had a lot of ice cream this Summer. Allison and I have been watching some fun shows also and ice cream goes real well with fun shows. We’ve been watching Acapulco on Apple TV + and it is so much fun. We’ve got a season and a half left of that show and we’ll be getting some more shows coming out next month. I think that we may stop our subscription to Apple TV+ soon because there are very few shows on that channel. That will save us a bit more each month.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02044 A few years back there was a cool set of Tonka themed Devastator Constructicons that were made. I picked up the set. DEvastator was the first of the combiner groups and it has always been one of my favorites. I have the original set from the 80’s and it is now on display in my office along with this set.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02043 My sister gave me these superhero symbols to post up in my office. We’ve got Avengers, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and Spider-Man. These are cool and I would love to make up some of them on the 3D printer. It has been a while since I’ve done anything with the printer. I’m waiting till the humidity is all done for the season.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02042 I’m going to start making videos again and this time focusing on LEGO. I’ll be building lots of my LEGO sets using my new Overhead camera. I picked up this set specifically for making the first video because it is a small set.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02041 Now that Andy has their own TV and our old Wii U in their room the kids have been playing a few games together. The one that they are playing the most is Nintendoland and specifically the Legend on Zelda game on Nintendoland. This is a two player game that they play where one person has a sword and shield while the other has a bow and arrow. Working together they go through a bunch of levels fighting enemies. They were so excited to get to level 9 together. LAst night at dinner they were talking about playing and how they really want to get to some of the higher levels. It is great seeing them excited and playing together.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02040 About a year or so ago when I was heavy into making YouTube videos I funded an Indiegogo project for the Logitech Reach. This is a camera that can be rotated 360 degrees and can be used to make top down videos. While I am no longer making a lot of videos I think I have a great use for it. I’m going to start making some LEGO build videos because I think that will show a good perspective on the building process. It is the way I’ve always wanted to make those sort of videos. So we shall see.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02039 Blue Buffalo sent me a big box of cat food for the two cats. The box even said that they were for James and Torrun. So we had James take a photo with the food. I’ll probably donate the wet food because the cats only eat dry food but I think they will enjoy the dry food very much.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02038 Today I went to An Unlikely Story to meet up with an old friend. They did not show but I was also there to pick up some Last Kids on Earth books. I’ve been rereading the series and I realize that I did not have a couple of the books. I got those at the store and have been tearing through each book in a day or so. I’m hoping to finish them up next week. Also in the photo is a couple pairs of shoes and some sweatpants. I’m working on my costume for Granite State Comic Con. I’ll be Peter B. Parker and Eav is going to be a teenage Mayday Parker. I’m looking forward to our time on the trip. I’m also growing my hair and my beard for the costume. I’ll trim everything up when the time comes, though. I’m still waiting on one more piece of my costume. Should be a fun time.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02037 I took a walk this morning. I’m going to work on getting back into doing much more walking and also listening to audio books. I recently used 9 credits on my Audible account to pick up a bunch of Game of Thrones books. Walking each morning will give me some time to listen to all these books but first I’m starting with Jurassic Park. I haven’t read that book in years and I loved it then, it is still very good.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02036 Andy bought themselves a new computer. Andy had been using one of my old laptops. It did what it needed to do for Andy for a long while but it was still a bit old and wasn’t going to cut it for much longer. Andy had expressed that they wanted a new computer and using some of their money from Mimi and Dano plus what they had saved and more they were able to buy a new gaming desktop with a whooping 32GB of RAM so speed should be incredible. We also went to Best Buy last week and picked up a 24 inch Amazon Fire TV so that Andy could use that as a monitor, TV and also to connect my old Wii U gaming system. Andy has asked so often if they could play Guitar Hero on that system and well, I never had it hooked up. Now Andy can play anytime they want. We also moved the old desk chair into their room to use with the computer. This not only freed up space in the kitchen but it also gives Andy something better to sit on than a folding chair. Now the trick it to keep ev...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02036 I recently made a purchase on Temu and one of the things I picked up was the Yolopart Bumblebee model. It was a pretty simple model to put together and it looks awesome. It is very accurate to the TV version of Bumblebee. Behind that smaller Bumblebee is one of the Transformers R.E.D. figures of Bumblebee. That is a good one, too.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02035 Months and months ago I went to Five Below and saw this gaming shirt. I wanted one but they did not have my size. Today I finally found it. I may have to make this my new official work shirt when I head into the office.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02034 Occasionally I get things from General Mills. This time around they sent some neat stuff for the cats. The package that they went was pretty cool and even included the cats’ names. I’ll post more on August 8th.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02033 While we were at the Cape I took Eva over to Spohr Gardens so that she could get some photos of her cosplay character in pretty places. We also took some photos at home with the flowers in the yard. Next year we’ll have to go to Spohr Gardens earlier in the season to see the flowers in full bloom. It was a little late in the season. We were on the Cape until the afternoon. I went to the beach with Eva and then Andy. After that we enjoyed lunch with the Alumni director from Feehan. Eva showed her the materials from her projects at SCAD. We talked about alumni things and enjoyed lobster rolls. When we got home Andy’s new computer had arrived. I got it set up so that once Andy’s room is clean we can put it in there so that Andy can use it.