BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02503 Andy turned 14 today. I was asleep all day and it wasn't until dinner that I even got to wish them a Happy Birthday. Mem and Grandfather came up today from the Cape. They took Andy and Eva out to Michael's, Savers and An Unlikely Story. Andy got this really cool mechanical dragon figurine at Michaels ad some items to create  a steampunk Nerf gun. That is Andy's latest project.  Allison and I caught up with everyone at House of Fortune to enjoy dinner together. We got a huge meal that was really tasty. The kids have decided that House of fortune is the place for most celebrations. I also learned tonight that my supervisor and his family know Jason and Stephanie very well and have for many years.  We came back to the house so that Andy could open their gifts and enjoy a nice carrot cake. The cake was Andy's choice, they really like that type of cake. Andy got some nice things for their birthday, a new flannel hoodie, a metal 3D puzzle, some patches ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02499 Tonight was the Fall Art show at Feehan. Because Eva is a senior all of her projects are displayed in the same spot together. Allison and I met up with Eva after school at the Doran Center to see the show. The little notes with green on them are acknowledgements from teachers and staff. Eva had four of them on her still life of buttons.  During Baccalaureate Mass Eva will have a senior art show that everyone in the family can attend. There she can display all of her projects throguh all four years at Feehan.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02492 Today Allison and I drove down the Cape to go to Scargo Cafe for lunch with Mem and Grandfather, Cindy and Wayne and Aunt Cathy and Uncle Roger. Scargo Cafe was one of Grandma Bennett's favorite places to go for a meal. The food there was excellent. We arrived a little early and visited a couple of shops across the street from the cafe. Found some Christmas gifts for the kids and an anniversary gift for Allison. Our meal was excellent and we had a wonderful waitress. Allison got a chicken meal that was very tasty and I got the braised short rib meal. That was also very good. In the end Mom and Dad, Cindy, Wayne Cathy and Roger split the bill and took us out for our anniversary. We were celebrating what would have been Grandma and Grandpa's 76th wedding anniversary. It was nice to go there and think of them for a while and have a lot of fun with family.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02486 Tonight Eva was inducted into the National Honor Society. We attended the ceremony with Mem and Grandfather. After the ceremony we went to dinner at House of Fortune with Eva's friend Aviva. Mem and Grandfather headed home but that is okay because we went to House of Fortune in the afternoon for lunch.  This morning was the funeral for Peggy Conrad-Pope from our church. She helped out with the Altar boys when I was a kid. I served with her two boys. She'd also been part of the prayer group that Allison and Mem participate in. So Allison had become friends with Peggy over the years, too. We all attended the funeral and then afterwards Allison went back to school and I went to lunch with Mem and Grandfather.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02474 This morning I dropped Andy off at school and then headed to Middleboro to Dave's Diner to meet up for breakfast with my Dad. I need to return the van to him and get my car back. I'm meeting up with a friend in Newport tomorrow and wanted to drive that rather than the van.  Out front of the diner there was a giant chicken in red, white and blue. There were also a couple of smaller chickens and cow shaped seat. Inside it was a diner and the food was pretty good. Many old magazines and signs and things like that all over the walls.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02460 Today was a big day all around. It was not only the Father / Daughter Dance for Feehan but also Eva's 18th birthday. I cannot believe that a young adult is now part of our family. Time has flown by so quickly. We captured our last special photo at the dance, we have always made a moment to take photos with our dessert ever since our first dance at SMSH.  This year we did a special coordination of our outfits. We got matching vests and ties. The sets even came with tie tacks, cufflinks and pocket squares. We then ordered special Transformers tie clips that we couldn't actually use with our ties because the vest came up too high so we clipped them to the lapels of our vests. We did a quick celebration of Eva with gifts before heading to the dance. Allison and I each got her a tea infuser. Allison got her one of a swan butt and I got a frog that hangs off the side of the teacup. Eva was excited about those and 3 more bags of her favorite tea. We're going...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02431 Today my parents came up from The Cape. Mom was meeting up with friends and so Dad took me to lunch at Morin's. This was Dad's first visit after Morin's extensive remodel. I got the wedge salad again because it is one of the things that works best for me. Dad got the Rueben which looked very good. After lunch we caught up with Mom and she and Dad were able to visit with Andy for a bit before they headed to a wake.  After the wake dad came back over to visit with Eva. I continued working on photographing and documenting each of my Transformers to get them ready for selling. It has been quite a project but it is working out pretty well so far. I'm going to need Dad's van to get everything up to NH. There are 22 boxes. I may squeeze them into Allison' car but I don't think so.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02423 Today was andy's first day of school. I drove them over tot he High School because it was the first day. Andy has expressed interest in walking over in the future. I wanted to make sure that Andy was there in time to eat breakfast. Of course we are still figuring out the best time to leave in order to not end up there too early.  It was also the first full day for both Allison and Eva. Eva had Senior Sunrise today and I brought her over for that and when I returned I took Andy to school. Allison is still working on taking a quick mile walk each morning before school which she was most grateful for doing later in the day. Everyone had nice days. Allison wanted to know how I celebrated "Christmas" today, my first day witht he house all to myself after having everyone home for the Summer. I really didn't do much. I have projects but did not start any of them, yet. Just an abundance of video games. Later on I went to the supermarket and picked up a ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02407 Tonight was the last Food Truck night of 2025. For some reason I must have hit the portrait mode and it auto focused on me. Sadly everyone else is out of focus. Whoops.  Tonight I got the Lobster Street Corn Nachos. This is the first cheat meal that I've had since being on Virta. I wanted to see how it would affect my blood sugar. I did not eat the whole thing but had a pretty good amount. About two hours later my blood sugar was at 255, that is the most it has been in months. It did come back down pretty quickly, too.  I figure if I am going to cheat I am going to need to pick something that I really enjoy to make it worth it. It won't be often but I will occasionally and in moderation pick something that is not Virta approved. 

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02405 During my cleanup I got rid of some things from my closet. I had old jackets and other things that I got rid of by donating to the Feehan theater company via Eva and also some pirate garb that she decided to hang onto for herself and it looks like the clothes fit well. 

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02401 Today We watched my sister's dog, Lexi. My sister and her husband were coming back up here from their home and they had boarded the dog. They weren't sure if they'd be there in time to pick her up so we did that for them. We had Lexi for a couple of hours before they arrived and we had dinner together. Lexi was pretty chill for the most part until Torrun came in to the living room to investigate. At first they just looked at each other. Andy grabbed for LEXI's leash and then Lexi tried to go after Torrun. Torrun ended up bolting for the upstairs and we did not see her for hours. James knew enough not to even come down.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02400 We went to Spumoni's tonight for dinner. Had a great time, very good food. Great waiter, too. Andy especially loved the giant cheese pull that they got from the French Onion Soup that they had.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02395 On our second day at the Cape this week Eva spent the entire day at Science School and then had a fun night with friends at Folk Singing and then they had twice baked potatoes together. She’s had some great times with friends this Summer. It has been an awesome experience for her. Tonight Allison, Andy and I went to Anejo for dinner with my friend Stephanie and her son and boyfriend. It was our first meeting of her boyfriend and her son. Stephanie worked with me several years ago and we’ve kept in touch ever since. We had a great dinner together and enjoyed our time with Stephanie, Josh and Julian. Andy even got to hold Julian and Andy looked so happy. The kid loves babies and dogs. Andy is very gentle with both. I did not get any photos at dinner but Stephanie did and shared them with me. They are of Andy and the baby but I’m not posting them. So, I have a photo of the tomatoes in my Dad’s garden. He’s got a ton of plants and lots and lots of tomatoes.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02393 We spent the day in New Hampshire celebrating Dan and MArcia’s 50th Wedding Anniversary. In the morning I took the family over to the Golden Egg for breakfast. We enjoyed a nice breakfast together and then went back to the hotel to get ready for the day. We met up with Uncle Tom who performed a private Mass for us in his room. Then we headed over to Nate’s house again before heading to our lunch venue at Wentworth By The Sea. We enjoyed a meal at Salt and got to use their wine room. It was a nice room with a very large table. We had an excellent meal and bottles of wine. After our meal we went down to Dan and Marcia’s suite to enjoy a cake that we had brought. We got the cake from Awesome Sweets. Awesome Sweets is a bakery that my friend Sue runs. A great place with very good baked goods. I’d love it if Andy interned there some day. After our celebration we took a bunch of photos around the grounds and also on the porch of their suite. We headed to the Cape after...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02392 We are up in New Hampshire today visiting Allison’s brother and his family as well as Allison’s parents and her uncle Tom. We’re there for Allison’s parents’ 50th wedding Anniversary. We drove up this morning and met everyone on Market Street in Portsmouth. There we wandered the shops. Andy found a very cool pocket watch that is actually a holder for tiny D&D dice. Eva and Allison also found a few things. after our adventure on Market Street we went to Nate’s house for a cookout. We enjoyed a very nice meal and the kids hung out with their cousins a bit. We had a nice time and Andy played with the dog a bit. Then we went to our hotel room for the night. We stayed at a local Courtyard and We split up the beds to have Eva with Allison and Andy with me. Andy repeatedly whacked me in the back as they flailed in the night. A very active sleeper.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02391 Today was Andy’s last day of Teens culinary camp at Johnson and Wales. The last day of the camp week is always a day when parents can come and see, and taste test all the wonderful things that the kids made during the week. There were many tasty treats. I’ll have to take Andy and Allison’s word for it since I only had a small piece of a snickerdoodle cookie. I had to try something and since I was only trying one thing I made sure it was one of my favorites.I do love a good snickerdoodle cookie after all. During the week Andy also decorated a cake. The cakes are all Styrofoam and have fondant covering the cake. From there Andy designed the rest of the cake in fondant. Andy decided upon a whale and did an amazing job making it. They said that it is based on the Whale emoji. I didn’t know that there was a whale emoji. After picking Andy up I drove down to the Cape to pick up Eva. We're all heading to New Hampshire tomorrow so we had to get her and bring her ho...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02389 Since we have one week with just Andy at home we figured we’d do something nice and take them out for dinner. We should have thought that trough better because this week Andy has been at cooking camp at Johnson and Wales and Andy has been having lots of food each day. So, the last thing they really want to do is eat when they get home. Next year we’ll make sure to just take Andy for dessert since there is always room for that. Campfire was excellent. I had wings and a Caesar salad. I asked for no croutons but got them anyway. I picked out about two slices of bread worth of croutons but that’s fine. Someone who enjoys croutons and can eat them would absolutely love the place. The wings were very good. I like getting a cajun dry rub on the wings and then asking for buffalo sauce on the side so I can dip into the sauce and then into the blue cheese. The cajun with the buffalo works well. Andy got the Whiskey burger but only ate a few bites. I finished that off...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02373 I came down to the Cape later today because I went and saw Superman before I headed down. I slept a few hours and then went over to the movie theater to see Superman. I didn’t have high expectations for the movie but I knew that James Gunn was in charge of it so I knew it was in good hands. The movie did not disappoint. It was the best DC movie since the Dark Knight, the last one I really enjoyed. The movie was bright and fun and had an excellent soundtrack. I laughed and I certainly teared up more than once. Such a fun movie to see. When I arrived at the Cape my niece and my sister’s dog were sitting on the bench at the table and I was able to catch a very happy expression on both of them.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02372 Tonight was another picnic in the park with food trucks at Capron park. We walked over early and then went off to get our own food and then gathered back up to enjoy our meal. I picked up some brisket birria tacos. Allison got a shredded brisket sandwich. Andy opted for some loaded mac and cheese fries and some chicken parm. Eva was happy because she could have Friskies Fries. She gets the General’s chicken fries. After dinner Andy got some chocolate covered strawberries and Allison got a churro and ice cream. I had one of the strawberries and a bite of the churro. That spiked my sugar up a bit. Not too crazy but a bit. It came back down pretty easily, too.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02372 Today we attended a birthday party for my cousin’s daughter. Andy spent a lot of time in the pool playing with the kids. The little ones flock to him because he enjoys playing with them. Today was a nice day weatherwise. We enjoyed being outside for the afternoon before heading home so I could get a little bit more sleep before heading to work. Apparently being locked out of the usual room at the office last night required a workaround that I did not try. When I came in tonight the day folks were in the room because they went through the room next door to get in. I should have known that a workaround was needed. Never have any weekend where a workaround is not needed.