BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02481 Andy has been carving a giant branch from our tree all week long for their Halloween costume. Last night Allison and Andy worked on the costume. Last night Allison and I went and got rope form Michael's for the costume. Last night Andy let us know that they were not wearing that costume to school. This was after we had had a conversation, Allison and I, about how much we loved that Andy got into Spirit Week at school so heavily despite having to go to the High School each morning in their costumes or carrying their nonsense. We love that Andy embraces the joy of a spirit week.  So, when andy told us that they were not wearing the costume that they had been working on to school we figured that there must be something that Andy could wear instead. I suggested to Andy that because they still had their Bob Ross hair and beard that they could go as Bob Ross. Andy really liked that idea and this morning gout out the whole costume, minus peapod the squirrel because ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02480 Last year for Anything but a Backpack day Andy took a giant inflatable treasure chest to school as a backpack. Today Andy picked something more... practical. This year Andy was helping me move all of my Transformers to be sold and noticed the old mini shopping cart that the kids had for the play kitchen. Andy tucked tha knowledge away for today to use that as their means to cart around all their books. It was a rainy day and that looks like it would be a pain in the neck to push all the way to school and back so I dropped Andy off in the morning and picked Andy up in the afternoon. When I picked Andy up I was parked on the opposite side of the curved driveway to the school so I could look out my side window and see the kids coming out to their cars. I see Andy tearing along pushing their cart. I suddenly see Andy's legs straight up in the air. Andy had pushed the cart full tilt into a bump in the sidewalk and flipped over the handle bar of the cart. I kept sc...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02479 This week andy had spirit week at school. Yesterday they re-wore their Grover Underwood costume to be a character from a movie. Today is Twins day and so Andy and their friend Amr are going to wear suits. At least, Andy hopes that Amr remembered and wore a suit. Turns out that amr did, in fact end up wearing the suit. As Andy made their way to school this morning, walking, they saw the crossing guard who always calls Andy "Buddy" instead called Andy "Sir". Andy was looking sharp in the suit and after shaving. Tonight I went to a Feehan event for major donors to the school. I was a guest of my mom. She's the donor, not me, my donations now are to Eva's tuition. Maybe at some point I'll donate again but right now, can't swing it. It was nice to attend, I did run into a couple of people who were from my class so that was a nice to talk with them. I did not look as sharp as Andy did, though. My suit right now is a bit too big and b...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02478 This year's San Diego Comicon featured a Transformers set that combined the character of Jetfire with two characters from the comic book Void Rivals, Darak and Solla. Void Rivals is part of the Energon Universe of comic books. This would include Transformers, G.I. JOE and Void Rivals. Skybound, which is under Image comic has the license of Transformers and G.I.JOE. They also have M.A.S.K. too because characters from that universe are also running around in this new one.  I have been collecting all the comics from the Energon Universe and they are awesome. I love how they are intertwined. For instance Darak and Solla crash land on a planet in their book and they discover Jetfire. This set is of that meeting. There is even a comic book with a special cover included in this set. It is a cool display but I seem to have run out of viable places for it to be displayed so it is on the back of the futon at this time.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02477 Tonight we went to Morin's with Mem and Grandfather. They took us out for Eva and Andy's birthdays. We were going to go to House of Fortune but they are closed on Mondays. We always happen to do things that way and forget that they are closed Mondays.  Morin's was a good alternative. The restaurant was recently remodeled and looks great. They had a nice selection of meals, too. I, of course, got the wedge salad with steak tips like I do each time because that works best for my meal plan. I do think that I got the wrong soda, though because I had a big sugar spike. Luckily it went back down almost as quickly as it rose. Mom and dad were up for a wake for their friend Tommy Castro. They went to the wake first and then ran some errands and then caught up with us for dinner. We walked in right behind them.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02476 The other day I learned about an Omega supreme extra large Funko Pop. I've been collecting the Transformers Funko POP! figures and displaying them on my wall. So, when I saw this I picked it up. I figured that I'd get a couple of things with the money that I made selling off other Transformers figures. I've decided that if I am buying anything more it has to be displayed.  In addition to the new Funko POP! figures I got I also got some Bitty sized Funko Pop! figures of Transformers. These I can display on my desk. I found a great Transformers shirt as well. There is also a metal model that I need to build. I've never built a metal figure before but that will be a fun challenge.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02475 Today I went to NEwport and picked up my friend James. James has been on a New England cruise and had a stop in Newport so we coordinated a little meetup. I drove in and picked James up and we went over to the Coddington Brewing Company. James got a sampler flight of their beers and chowder while I had French Onion soup.  Then we drove around and chatted. We were going to go to Flo's for some fried clams but they were closed. So we continued to drive around and chat. That was pretty much what we wanted to do, catch up and that is what we did. We stopped at the beach to take this selfie but otherwise we stuck to hanging out in the car. It was nice to catch up. The last time we had any time together was 10 years ago at IZEAFest. It was at the same time of year, too.