BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01671 Dan and Marcia are leaving tomorrow so tonight we drove down to Warwick to go to dinner at Iggy’s Doughboys & Chowder House. It was a nice night and so we sat out on the patio by the water and enjoyed our meal. Afterwards we took some family photos by the water. We were down that way because Andy had their first day at Johnson and Wales and the cooking camp. Andy went last year and really enjoyed it and is looking forward to continuing to attend during the Summers and even do the teen program. Allison took Andy down because I had to try and sleep after the weekend.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01670 Mimi and Dano are visiting with us for a couple of days. They arrived yesterday afternoon and spent today with the kids and Allison at the Providence Flea and they also went to Rock Spot in Providence. That location is all bouldering but Andy had a nice time there anyway. We’ll have to get them out and climbing at another place again later this month. Tonight we did steak tips. We tried to do it outside but there was a rather persistent yellow jacket that was harassing Eva. So, we moved the meal inside.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01669 Heading into work tonight and I saw a turkey vulture at the front doors of the building. There were actually two of them out there. I have been seeing more and more of them around this area and I cannot recall ever seeing them before as a kid. Now I am seeing them very often around the area. I even saw one clearing off road kill as I drove down a street near my house. Not sure where they are all coming from but there are many around here.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01668 Eva comes home tomorrow from her extra week on the Cape. We decided to take Andy to Snappy Dogs for lunch because Andy really enjoys the hot dogs there but it isn’t so much Eva’s favorite. She loves the Snappy Dogs ladies Teresa and Lisa but not those particular hot dogs. So, it felt like the best time to do a special adventure just with Andy. We ran up there and enjoyed some Big Dogs, no Great Dane for me today, I was saving some room. Saving room for some ice cream at Frisbie’s. We stopped there on the way back from Snappy Dogs to enjoy some tasty ice cream. As we were pulling in I realized that Allison’s car needed to be inspected so when we got home I went out and got a new wiper blade for the passenger side of the windshield at Advanced Auto parts and then ran over to Achin’s Garage to get the inspection. I knew I wasn’t going to have time to do so before we had to start running Andy down to cooking camp next week.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01667 For lunch today we had Chopped BLT sandwiches. What is the difference between this and a regular BLT. Well, chopped sandwiches are becoming a trend on Tik Tok and I thought I’d give it a try. We had some bacon pieces from Imperfect Foods. They sell some bacon as the parts and pieces rather than strips. This is all the bacon that doesn’t look like nice neat strips. Allison cooked that up and then we put in some lettuce, one slice of onion and a tomato plus pickles. Normally Andy will only eat what he calls a BLP, Bacon Lettuce and Pickles but I told him to give this a try this time around. What we discovered was that this was a good way to enjoy a BLT but we should have mixed it all with some mayo to keep things together better. Next time we will do that. I also think that next time we do it on toast for a really good crunch. I ended up running to Seabra three separate times today. Once to get city trash bags, once to get pickles for lunch and one last time ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01666 Allison and I took Andy to the Cinema Pub today. We’ve been cleaning the house and getting things ready for Mimi and Dano to visit. It is hot and sticky so it was a good day to go to an early afternoon movie together. We saw the movie Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken by Dreamworks. The movie was a cute one. there were several laugh out loud moments in it, too. The nice thing about going on a Wednesday, too is that they have a date night special which is $30 for two entries and two drinks which includes wine or beer. So it wasn’t crazy expensive for the activity.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01665 The chalkboard wall was a big hit. Allison saw it and was impressed. Andy saw all sorts of art possibilities and was thrilled. Allison quickly sketched out what she envisioned for the wall and she used some paint to make the calendar template as well as the meals for the week and the shopping list. She also looked up some quotes to use for the top of the wall and the very bottom is where Andy and Eva can draw things. It is already getting some good use.