BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02150 I’ve been walking daily and today I took a shorter walk because I can’t get the full 4 1/2 miles on Saturday and Sunday because of the sleeping through the day thing. I walked up and over the train bridge around the corner. I noticed the graffiti under the train bridge a few days ago and thought it looked interesting. I really don’t see a whole lot of interesting graffiti around but this looked interesting to me so I took the photo. That is with my new phone with 4X zoom. Great detail from that far.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02149 We have a new Christmas Nativity scene. This was from a family friend and she received the pieces from my great aunt. It is a very nice set and we have it displayed in our dining room. the first bit of Christmas decorations are now up. Trees will be soon.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02148 We hosted Thanksgiving today. Mem and Grandfather came down from the Cape for our Thanksgiving meal. I picked up the meal from Fireflies yesterday. We got a smoked turkey breast and brisket plus lots of sides. Allison made an apple pie and a chocolate cream pie. Mem brought some Cranberry Bog ice cream and more sides. We had a delicious meal. It was a really nice day together. Tonight we got into our new Christmas Pajamas and watched the movie, The Wild Robot. Our pjs were from Five Below (shirt) and Old Navy (pants). The shirt says “check Yourself Before You Deck Yourself” The movie was very good.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02147 The 1986 Transformers movie killed off many of the original characters from generation 1. Ironhide and Prowl both died and Hasbro has been putting out a series of figures called S86 figures. I picked up this two pack of Ironhide and Prowl. They have battle damage from when they died in the movie. a bit morbid but the figures are really accurate from the cartoon so I got them.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02146 We ordered some treats from The Attleboro Blue Pride Bistro for Thanksgiving. They had all sorts of things to order. We got a pumpkin pie and some Pumpkin Bread as well as Orange Cranberry Bread. These were made by the culinary students of Attleboro High School.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02145 The latest Transformers crossover figure is based on Knight Rider. The Agent Knight character uses the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that was K.I.T.T. from the show. The figure even has the signature flashing light on the hood. The figure even has a wristwatch communicator that Michael Knight wore on the show.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02144 This morning before I went to bed I went for a walk and a couple of streets over I saw this school bus painted the neon green of the Decepticon team, the Constructicons. There were no other markings on the bus so I wonder what it is for. Is someone creating a Tiny home out of it? Are they turning it into a party bus of some sort.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02143 Ever since installing WalkFit on my phone I’ve gotten daily reminders to get in the 4900 steps. I’m about to start a second week with the app and the amount of steps has increased to 5900. That is fine during the week when I have the time. However, on the weekend it gets tricky. Luckily I was working from home so I could go for a walk before dinner.While walking up one of the streets the sky looked really cool so I took a photo of that. I ended up getting in my steps.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02142 Andy is officially a teenager now. We now have two teens in the house. That is pretty crazy to think about. At least for us. I took andy to breakfast this morning at Boro Bagel because until Morin’s opens back up there is no breakfast place around that opens before 7am. Andy has to be at school by 7:30 am so any other place wouldn’t work. But we enjoyed some bagel sandwiches together before I dropped Andy at school. Andy had theater after school so I picked them up from that because of the rain we were having. When Allison returned home we all went to Bliss to celebrate Andy’s birthday. Apparently, on Fridays Bliss has entertainment. they have their DJ from the Summer come in and play all sorts of music. He also had a couple of large screens set up for music videos that went along to all the songs. Very heavy ont he Christmas music but that is okay, it was festive and fun. It was nice to celebrate Andy on their big day.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02141 Tonight we took the kids to see a one man show called An Iliad. This was an interpretation of Homer’s epic poem. The play was performed by Bill Harley. This man is a singer songwriter that Allison has been following for years. Apparently he had kids shows over the years that Allison had wanted to take our kids to see but the timing never worked. When she saw that he was performing this play she suggested that we go. Both of the kids love Percy Jackson and Greek mythology and they also like theater. We knew that Eva would go for it but wasn’t as convinced that Andy would like it but we got 4 tickets and didn’t give them a choice. Bill Harley’s performance was very powerful. Eva had so many thoughts and feelings on it afterwards. She even found a version of it on YouTube to share with one of her friends so that they could discuss. Andy also enjoyed the performance. It was very good. It blends the tal of Homer’s Iliad with the modern world. Bill’s performance was i...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02140 The other day I saw someone on Tik Tok showing a Popcorn container with the character of Groot from the Guardians of the Galaxy and it came with two bags of popcorn, some cheddar cheese flavor to shake on and two character bowls included of Rocket Raccoon and Star Lord. It looked like something I’d like so I found it on Walmart online and ordered it. The item came today. The product name is PopPowls. Strange name but they d have a bunch of fun properties for character designs like Marvel, Minions and more. There was also a Spider Man one that I saw but could not find to buy. So I go the Guardians of the Galaxy version instead. The popcorn was good but the flavoring was a bit much. I had half and had Andy eat the other half.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02139 As I continue to try and get back into making videos I posted the 3rd part of this Samurai Mech build on my YouTube Channel. I finished him up today and it came out looking great. It is a bit fragile when trying to get it to stand but overall the build was fun. A cheap LEGO knockoff but it did give me hours of building fun and the pieces are sufficient quality.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02138 The other day I downloaded an app called WalkFit for my phone. I stopped doing Krav back in June and had to fit something into my life that was exercise. I enjoy walking and have a ton of books on Audible so I have begun doing some walking. The first week of the program looks to have me do 4900 steps daily. I try to do at least 10,000 and have been going to our Mall to walk there as it has become colder. However, today I wanted to have some bread with dinner so I walked up over the train bridge and down to Seabra to pick up a loaf of bread. The sky was beautiful when I returned.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02137 During my break at work I took a walk around the building. I noticed a few little plastic animals in a few places. As I was walking by I decided to try out my macro lens on this little frog. I downloaded a new app called WalkFit. I’ll use it on my walks at the mall. I’m enjoying the morning mall walks.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02136 Yesterday when I went to the Harley shop to get my new jacket I also picked up a new toy truck. There are a bunch of them that are Harley themed. This one looked really cool so I got it for my wall.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02135 I’ve had a Harley Davidson Visa card for a long time. With it I accumulate points towards gift cards. I accumulated a bunch of them and today I went over to Precision Harley Davidson to pick up a jacket because I had been planning on getting one with all the cards. I probably should have told Allison that prior to our anniversary so she could have saved a little bit in getting me a jacket. This Harley jacket is very close to the Dean Winchester jacket that I had my eyes on, too. I like that it doesn’t have a very blatant design on it. Everything on the jacket is very subtle. Looks very much like a plain black jacket but has some nice little Harley details on it. I picked up some other things as well. Used all the gift cards.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02134 Allison got me a Thor bottle opener for our Anniversary. I found a great place for it on top of my game over lamp, and by the looks of it, needs to be dusted.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02133 There are now several companies that make LEGO-like brick sets. They end up being sold for much lower prices. LEGO is great and very well made but the prices are insane. So when I see something that looks incredibly cool I pick it up. I’m using them to create building videos for my YouTube channel, too. I found this cool Samurai mech on Temu for like $30. It has 923 pieces and will be a fun build to enjoy. I started working on it today and did the head and torso. I’ll do the legs in another video and the arms in another one. After that I have another Mech that I found also on Temu. I’ll build that as well.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02132 Tonight Allison and I went to celebrate our 19th Wedding Anniversary at 579 Benefit in Pawtucket. This family restaurant had some incredible food. We were able to share an appetizer (calamari) and each get an entree (braised Short Ribs and Swordfish Skewers) and then each get some dessert (Creme Brulee and Chocolate Lava Cake). And all of that was under $100 so that was very reasonable. I took as macro shot of my dessert and it was so detailed. Allison got me a nice jacket and a Thor themed bottle opener as an Anniversary gift. I got her a yarn bowl and a set of crochet hooks.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02131 My new phone a Google Pixel 9 Pro, arrived today and it has a built in Macro Mode for the camera. This new camera on the phone is awesome. So many megapixels and the ability to shoot in macro. The tough thing is holding the camera still enough to get a good macro shot. I was trying to take a few shots and they did not come out great because of how close I had to get and how still I needed to keep the camera. But I think this image of the inside of Optimus Prime’s chest in my LEGO Optimus Prime came out pretty good. You can even make out the backwards LEGO word.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02130 I found these Marvel Headphones at Five Below. They are part of the Five Beyond collection. I think there may be a couple more Marvel characters out there like Spider-Man and Groot. I’ll maybe get them at some point, too.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02129 Back on the second I posted a photo of a house that was made from line art. This was for a gift for Allison’s friend Colleen. Well, it was a gift for Allison’s friend to gift to her brothers. The photo is of their family home. Allison has gotten it ready for iron on transfer.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02128 Tonight we had a couple of Eva’s friends come over for Chinese food. Allison made some Swiss Chocolate Squares for the dessert.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02127 I’m still a bit dazed from the results of the presidential election. I was at Xfinity to get a new phone because it was time for mine to be replaced. I was trying to wait longer but the volume buttons are so messed up that I kept it as long as I could. So, I went and got a new phone and when I left the building I walked out to my car, hit the button to unlock it and got it. Immediately got in and realized that something was off. The seats were not in the right spot. Then I noticed that the car had leather and mine does not. I had gotten into the wrong car.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02126 For the past couple of months Andy has stated that they are done with climbing for a while. So I thought that this was the last climb in a while but once the class was over and once I had posted this photo stating that they were done climbing Andy told me that they wanted to continue. So, I signed Andy up for the Winter session for teens. Today I was numb. I was so hopeful yesterday and today, just numb. I’m so disappointed in this country. It is going to take a while to process what happened.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02125 This morning I got up and voted in the Presidential election. I got plenty of blue gear including my strength and kindness shirt. Was feeling really good about it, too. In the early afternoon I took the kids over to The Big Apple to meet up with my mom and dad and cousins Kylie and Dylan. We bought some pickles, donuts and apples before we headed over to Wrentham Outlets for lunch. We had lunch over at Tavern in the Square. We had a really nice meal and celebrated Andy’s upcoming birthday. It was good to see the family.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02124 Months ago I picked up some knockoff “LEGO” brick sets. This will be built next week when I film for my YouTube channel. This might be cool or it may be a disaster. The pictures of it look cool so I have hope.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02123 Here is a sampling of the positive potatoes that Allison has been making. She’s now at the point where she is making the little arms and the positive messages for each potato to hold. She’s going to make about 35 of them for all the people who work at her school. She’s been at it a while and everything looks great. I hope everyone loves them. they are very cute.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02122 This one is going to have to do for today’s phot because it is actually a photo that was turned into line art so that it could be printed via Cricut. Allison is helping her friend Colleen do some Cricut crafts and she wanted this photo of her family home turned into a black and white piece of line art. I used a program online to do so but had to pay in order to actually get the file. So I tried to screen shot it on my computer but it distorted the shot. So, I finally used my phone and shot a photo of the line art and that is my photo for today because I slept all day and didn’t get anywhere to take photos.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02121 It is the tame of year when the sky looks incredible in the mornings. Of course that will change this weekend when we fall back an hour and the morning will be dark. But the few days before that happens we get some beautiful skies in the morning.