BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00731 In many ways 2020 was the worst year ever. However, if I look closer at the year and what it has given us It hasn’t been without good points. Allison and I are both working and because of our jobs we have been able to care for the kids as they have their hybrid learning schedule. This year brought many challenges to our fitness. When the pandemic shut down gyms and our dojo we were able to continue to train via Zoom. Slowly we were able to go back to the mats and continue our training. This year Eva started training in Jr. Krav Maga and she has embraced it with such joy. She loves training and is having a good time with her friends. Andy is continuing to make strides in the right direction, too. While he is not as enthusiastic about training he goes and does the best he can. I have gotten very serious about working on the next level. Within this coming year I may even be eligible to test for my Black Belt. I have a very long road ahead and have to get my fi...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00730 Doodlematic sent me a free Mobile Game Maker kit to try out and review. Opinions are my own. Finding creative things for kids to do on their iPads and other devices can be tricky. There are so many mindless video games out there for them to play over and over. But what if kids as young as 6 years old can create their own games? With Doodlematic they aren’t just doing the simple mindless things, but rather they are engaging their minds and creativity to turn their hand drawn creations to digital life. Doodlematic was one of the most innovative and interesting things I saw at Toy Fair last February. When I walked by the booth they were handing out playable cookies. What are playable cookies you ask? they were cookies with an image on them that you could scan into the Doodlematic game and then play that image as a video game. They also handed out small Doodlematic kits that allowed you to play a mini version of the game and create your own games. Here’s how it...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00729 Today we were finally able to go to Cape Cod and visit with my parents and my sister and her husband. We couldn’t go down the day after Christmas as we had planned, nor stay the night. although, with our bedroom covered in things from my parent’s old house I don’t think we could have even slept there if we wanted to. We got going early and made it down by 10:15 or so. We hung out in our masks just in case 14 days was not long enough. We enjoyed seeing all of the decorations and finding those that we used to put up on the giant tree at my parent’s old house. This year was going to be a different one anyway, without the virus lurking. This would be the first year where Christmas would be at The Cape. Well, it did not happen as we had hoped but it makes for a better transition for next year where the new traditions will begin. I do hope that we are able to stay for a day or two and enjoy more down time and Christmas fun together. I’ve got the perfect puzzle to...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00728 I found all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Monster Trucks at Target today. Now there are Character cars, Character themed cars and now Monster Trucks that are themed like the turtles. The only ones I have not gotten yet are the Monster trucks that look more like the turtles or a character car as a Monster Truck. I did find a Hot Wheels of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s van, the Party Wagon. It looks really cool!

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00727 Andy made even more clay things today and one of them is a clay ninja that he made for our Karate Dojo.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00726 Andy and Eva got modeling clay for Christmas and all Christmas day Andy asked over and over if he could use it. We wanted him to take a moment and think out exactly what he wanted to make with the clay. He has a tendency to ear through new things and then lose interest plus we were doing other things on Christmas day so we wanted him to have something else to do later in the vacation. Later came today. Andy was so excited about the clay and all the things that he was going to make that he had a hard time sleeping last night so we suggested that he write out ideas in a journal so that the ideas could get out of his head and he could sleep. He was able to do that and before he got started with the clay he drew a few pictures of what he wanted to do. When I came down this morning he had already finished making the baby Jesus. By the time I had left the house later in the day he had completed the whole Holy Family. He was going to make it as an ornament but it ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00725 Our Christmas day was pretty relaxed. We got up late and opened gifts. We had our cinnamon rolls after all the gifts were opened. It was a lighter year this year Some gifts did not arrive on time and some were for things and experiences in the future. Last year Allison and I gave each other some fun gifts for events but they did not happen because of the virus. Also, because of the virus we were home. We did not venture down to the Cape to spend time with my parents and sister and brother-in-law. We stayed put and had a nice day, we did do Zoom calls for both sides of the family. The kids were excited about their gifts. Andy got a new controller for the Nintendo Switch and Eva got a Dungeons & dragons starter set and she is very excited about that. The kids got me some Hot Wheels and I got Allison some sewing lessons. Eva also got Andy some Jingle Bell socks and he enjoyed wearing them all day long so he jingled while he walked. Eva would like to do a D...