BenSpark Family Adventures

A Christmas Story is an annual tradition in this house. We watch the movie at least three times a holiday season. The story of Ralphie Parker and his pursuit of the Red Ryder BB Gun is iconic. The movie itself is so incredibly quotable and it is accessible to so many people. From Jean Shepherd’s narration to the imaginative daydreams to getting a tongue stuck to a freezing flag pole this movie has so many great moments. On Thursday November 17th HBO Max is releasing A Christmas Story Christmas which is a sequel to the iconic Christmas Movie. I was able to screen the movie early so that I could interview Ralphie Parker himself, Peter Billingsley. You can see the trailer below. As a fan of the original I went in wondering if I would like how they handle this sequel while also knowing that nothing could ever be better than the original. This movie, however, did an amazing job of being true to the original film and being its own unique story and did not lean on the original movie’s plot or...

  I was given two Nintendo Switch Game Codes for the upcoming game, Smurfs Kart for free so that I could review the game and do a giveaway. Opinions are my own. We all know that I am a child of the 70’s but my formative pop culture years were the 1980’s. I watched The Smurfs every Saturday morning as a kid. I loved Saturday morning cartoons and the Smurfs was a huge part of that. I had collected many Smurfs figures and stickers and so many Smurfs related things. I jumped at the chance to review this game. Playing Smurfs Kart is like being transported to Smurfs Village and being 3 apples tall. I had so much fun racing around the courses as Papa Smurf in a Smurf sized vehicle that had the look and feel of some contraption that Handy Smurf created. As I raced along in the Smurf Cup races and won nearly all of them. I was playing in “Fun” mode to start, I earned a bunch of Smurfs Stickers for my sticker album. Did I mention that I collected stickers as a kid and these stickers in the g...

  If you are a teacher of kids from grades 4-6 or 6-8 Wizards of the Coast has created a new initiative to provide educational materials for teachers so that they can incorporate Dungeons and Dragons into their lesson plans. This is very exciting and so useful, too. It also comes out to coincide with a brand new starter set being released.. Dungeons and Dragons is very popular with many celebrities playing it and it being featured in some very popular TV shows. Kids are learning more and more about it but they may have never played before. There are many benefits from playing and many educational moments to learn from while playing. This initiative will even provide schools, libraries and community centers and enrichment organizations with D&D Afterschool Kits that will include everything to start D&D clubs and meetups. I have a full press release below with all the information on the initiative. I would also like to point you towards the website where you can download many...

We missed out on King Richard’s Faire last year because of the pandemic. This year we won’t be able to go to Carvershire because I have to take all my remaining vacation time to prepare for my black belt test. However, you do not have to miss out on the fun of King Richard’s Faire because it is returning for the 40th season of fun and festivities! We will get ourselves back to the Faire in the 2022 season, though. The kids love it there and so do we. More information about the return of the Faire below. King Richard’s Faire celebrates 40 th season as New England’s largest and longest-running Renaissance festival in Carver, Mass. Anniversary season runs weekends September 4-October 24 Including Labor Day and Columbus Day Monday Holidays CARVER, Mass. – New Englanders have never been so eager to go back to a gentler, happier time and escape reality. This fall, New England’s largest and longest running Renaissance Faire is ready to open wide the gates starting Saturday, September 4 th and...

Last week I had the pleasure of checking out the Upcoming Nintendo Game, Game Builder Garage for Nintendo Switch which launches tomorrow. This is a rather incredible game that will teach kids how to create their own games and that is something that I cannot wait for my kids to learn. Both Andy and Eva love games like Minecraft and Super Mario Maker 2. They enjoy building and learning how to create things. Being able to create things right out of their own imagination is the best and with Game Builder Garage they can take their creativity for gaming to the next level. The game has a series of training exercises that are about and hour or more each. Doing each training exercise will unlock features, abilities and knowledge that kids will need to make their own type of games. Every step of the way kids have help rom the Nodons. The Nodons are creatures that connect all the parts of the game together and they each have a distinct personality. As kids learn about each Nodon they gain more i...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00713 With the kids home from school 2 to 3 days a week we have to come up with fun things to occupy their time that do not involve screens. When I was offered the chance to review Yo Ring I thought it was a great idea. So we were sent some free packages of Yo Ring to check out. The Yo Ring is a silicone disc that fits in the palm of your hand. It is meant for flight and for playing a dynamic game of catch. There is a hole in the middle of the Yo Ring and so you are supposed to catch it on your finger. It takes a bit of coordination to be able to do it but it is the trying that is the most fun. You can also easily toss it around and catch it in your hands any way you want. The Yo Ring comes from a teen inventor. He started our with a metal ring that he had in his pocket and tossed to a friend. They made a game out of it and then after discovering that the metal ring was a bit painful he experimented with 20 different materials and ended up with Silicone to get th...