BenSpark Family Adventures

Yesterday I saw the Nick Cage movie National Treasure. After reading the Da Vinci Code and all the Dan Brown books I could see parallels between the stories. However I don’t see that one ripped off the other. National Treasure is a scavenger hunt through American History. I was pretty fascinated about the clues and riddles and the places in the movie. If anything it got me excited to know more about these secret societies and the potential for more movies and books in this same vein. If you get a chance check out this movie. And an update on the book reading front, I have finished reading many of the Clive Cussler books featuring Dirk Pitt. So far I have finished: Pacific Vortex! (1983) The Mediterranean Caper (1973) APA Mayday! Iceberg (1975) Raise the Titanic! (1976) Vixen 03 (1978) Night Probe! (1981) I am currently listening to Deep Six (1984) on CD. Got it from the library. Awaiting the next book on CD Cyclops (1986). Unfortunately the reader sounds like he is doing a newscast. No...

So this past weekend was Thanksgiving. Allison and I did a lot of holiday traveling throughout the weekend. First we went to the Cape for Thanksgiving with my family and then on Friday we headed up to New Hampshire to spend the weekend with Dan and Marcia. On Saturday Allison and Marcia went to look at dresses, there are photos but I cannot post them since I should not be seeing the dress or possible dress before the big day. And as an update no we still do not have a firm date. While Allison and Marcia were out shopping Dan and I went and ran a few errands. We picked up some Pepsi form K-Mart because they had a great deal, 5 12 packs for $10.00. Good deal! Then we went to Dan’s Steak guy for steak tips and to his fish guy for shrimp. We had Erin and Bart over for dinner of steak tips and baked stuffed shrimp. Here are a couple of photos from the weekend. My Thanksgiving dinner and Me and Allison and Erin and Bart at Marcia and Dan’s.

Yesterday Allison and I went to my Grandparent’s house for Thanksgiving. Grandma was doing well and we are very thankful that she was with us. My mother cooked the turkey and it was very very tasty. Don’t worry I have a picture of my plate from yesterday’s dinner. However I am using a dial up modem and don’t have the USB cable for my new camera with me. When I get back to my DSL connection I’ll post some Thanksgiving photos. I changed the trivia topic this morning to movies. Enjoy. Later today Allison and I are heading up to NH.

Before the poultry melee of the afternoon I will post about a few things. Allison and I are at the Cape with my Mom and Dad. We watched the Tim McGraw special last night. It was good except for the part with Nelly. What was that all about, the game of pool being interspersed between the over and over song. It struck me funny, I guess I was the only one. If you need a retreat from all the family stuff today check out kewlbox.com. This website has tons of free online shockwave games, like Adventure Elf, Santa Balls and Fowl Words. The games are addicting. Check them out before you hit that tryptophan wall. Enjoy your Turkey Day!

From Allison and I to you, we wish you a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. If you are shopping on Friday you may need a wake up call. Set one up at Target.com. If you get bored over the weekend check out The Incredibles. I saw that movie today over in Bellingham and it was awesome. It is a great take on the superhero genre. And it is very funny and action packed. Not totally a kids movie either, lots of adult jokes too. Or see Christmas with the Kranks, an adaptation of John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas which as a funny read, with Tim Allen and Dan Akroyd in the movie it is sure to be funny.

Yes, there is more big news from the Sparks family this week… On Saturday Nathan and Sarah became engaged!! Two weddings in the near future for the Sparks’ to prepare for! We are so excited for them and are so happy that Sarah will soon be part of our family officially!

This weekend Allison and I viewed two classic movies. On Friday night we saw An Officer and A Gentleman. The classic movie of the bad boy becoming a good man. Richard Gere and Loius Gossett Jr. were incredible. It was interesting to watch the movie and pick out people who have gone on to other things. For instance did you know that CSI Miami’s David Caruso was in An Officer and A Gentleman. It wasn’t until the credits that my suspicions, about who the character was, were confirmed. On Saturday night Allison and I watched what is considered the greatest movie of all time, Citizen Kane. It wasn’t until the featurette at the end of the film that I understood the full scope of what Orson Wells achieved in this film and how much of a genius he was. (And until yesterday I thought his genius was at its pinnacle when he was the voice of Unicron in the Transformers Movie) He changed movie making forever with this film. Both movies were obtained from the local library. I love the library. My yea...