BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00089 Tonight was the annual Father/Daughter Dance for Eva’s school. She was very excited about the event and had gotten a beautiful red dress. This was our sixth trip to the Father/Daughter Dance. We’ve been attending since Eva was in Kindergarten at the school. We started our day with some boxing with the heavy bag. Eva asked me last night if we could do some work on the heavy bag. She has asked that we work on it a couple of times a week. I am excited that she wants to do that. I am picking up some focus mitts too so we can do some work outside, too. Each year at the dance we take a selfie with our dessert. At Luciano’s Lake Pearl they do a fine chocolate mousse for the dessert. It is one of our favorite things to share together.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00088 I was given a Peppa Pig Lights and Sounds Family Fun Car to review as part of a Twitter Party that is happening today. Opinions are my own. I’m working with The Toy Insider on a #PeppaPigParty happening today and there are many prizes that you would win. In order to win you need to RSVP to the event. There are so many different Peppa Pig toys that you can win. You can see all the prizes on The Toy Insider blog. The Peppa Pig toy that I have is the Peppa Pig Lights and Sounds Family Fun Car. This cute car takes Peppa and Daddy Pig on a short ride. There are a few messages that Peppa says as they drive along. The car also has the figures bob up and down as they roll along. The car came with batteries included (3AA batteries are needed). Each of the figures can stand or sit. They fit into molded seats of the Family Car. To make the car move you just push the button on the trunk and off they go.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00087 While I should be talking about my earning my Krav Maga yellow belt but tonight before going to bed I was putting out the Ring Video Doorbell that I had recently recharged. I looked at the front gate and saw a package. It was a package from Amazon.com. It was simply placed over the fence in the yard. I have had a problem with these deliveries in the past. In the last snowfall a package was simply tossed over the fence on top of the snow instead of being delivered to the back porch as I have added to my profile several times. When this happened the first time I took a photo and posted to Amazon. I eventually got a chat with the customer service department and they added to my profile the fact that I want all deliveries to the back porch. And for the next couple of deliveries things went to the right spot. Even today I got one delivery to the back door and then there were two packages placed over the fence. Pretty close to where anyone could see them and grab them....

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00086 Andrew has graduated from Little Dragons to Karate Kids. His past three and a half years of training has been paying off. We are so proud of his hard work. He’s been going to training twice a week and learning as much as he can. After his graduation he took photos with all of his instructors and the black belt students who assist with classes. This is Mr. Brochu. He has been training Andrew since we moved to the North Attleboro America’s Best Defense location. He also trains me in Krav Maga. We are enjoying being at this location with such nice people.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00085 This is Andrew’s last class as a Little Dragon. Tomorrow he graduates to Karate Kids. It has been a long road for him and while he has great strides in karate he has a ways to go in discipline and self-control. However, it is working well. He continues to receive guidance and his instructors have genuine care for all their kids. Tomorrow is a big day for Andrew.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00084 A ways back at a Free Comic Book Day I got Eva a set of X-Men Evolution comics. She fell in love with the characters and the story. I was at Target and saw this X-Men shirt and thought immediately of Eva’s interest in the comics. She was thrilled to get the shirt and I took the photo on the green screen because I am going to try and see what I can do with it in Photoshop. But for now I enjoy sharing the love of X-Men with Eva. Her favorites are Phoenix and Storm. I am looking forward to showing her the first movie.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00083 I got to work tonight to learn that Rob Gronkowski has announced his retirement. I hadn’t taken my daily photo so I wandered the building and found this cute little Patriots gnome on someone’s desk.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00082 When two things that I really enjoy get mashed up I get excited. I love Funko Pop figures and I love Pez dispensers. Well, Funko and Pez have gotten together to put out Pop Pez dispensers. I love the Hanna Barbera ones and recently got Grape Ape but also found Yogi Bear, Secret Squirrel And Morocco Mole. There are a few more out there that I want to pick up, marvel and Hanna Barbera ones. I like them much more than regular Pez dispensers, too. I don’t think that there is a Boo-Boo one, though.

The other day Disney released a new Toy Story 4 poster and trailer. More details of the upcoming movie are revealed. There is a road trip aspect to the movie, Woody reunites with Bo Peep, a bunch of new characters are introduced and there is even some danger going on. The movie has even added some new big names as voices in the movie including Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks and Ally Maki. 

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00081 I was in Target today and saw a brand new Hot Wheels car that I had to grab. I love the look and style of this one. It is an elongated Baja type car and It reminded me of this LEGO one that I got recently. I am on the hunt for the new Avengers Endgame Hot Wheels character cars.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00080 I realized today that I built this set one year ago. The LEGO Ultron Edition Hulkbuster has been residing on my desk ever since. I enjoy having it here on my desk and like looking at it because it is such an interesting piece. It is huge and it took a long time to build. I did record myself building it for over two hours a year ago and you can see that video below. At the same time as this piece came in so did all the Avengers Infinity War sets. With Avengers: Endgame right around the corner I have been on the lookout for all the new sets for that movie. I think there are at least five sets but they are not out in stores and can’t be ordered at this time. When they come in I will make sure I do some builds on video.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00079 My dad came over today and helped me get started on some Spring cleaning around the house. We took care of the back and side yards so far. In raking up the leaves and clearing out all the stuff from the Winter and Fall we found the first crocus buds starting to get ready to bloom. They will be in full bloom in a few days, probably.

I received a download code for the LEGO DC Super-Villains game a while back from Warner Bros. Games for free to use to make videos and do reviews. Opinions are my own. Today a new Level Pack was released for LEGO DC Super-Villains and it was a very fun quick one. It was really quick. I completed the thing 100% after two runs through (You can’t do it on the first run because you cannot switch characters to gather all the mini-kits). The level is called the Mask of the Phantasm and you simply need to update your game to get the level pack and the new character. I did so and then I took viewers through a quick run of the level the first time through so they could see it. There is a great animated look to this level and it adds some fun characters from the series. You can see my video below. After the video you can see the full details on the latest release. What the release doesn’t say is that Two-Face is also another character that is added in the mix.

I cannot wait to see Marvel Studios' Avengers: Endgame but I don’t want to see any more trailers. This one was great but revealed a couple of things that, while we obviously know that some people are going to escape their awful predicament just leave us wondering a it longer. I’m talking about Tony Stark. In the first trailer he is on the Benatar (Star Lord’s Ship) and he’s near death. Leave it at that until the movie. If you are watching closely then when the team is assembled in their new uniforms heading, presumably into the new Super Quinjet which is probably fitted for space travel. Those new uniforms look like they are space suits. Walking out to it is Tony Stark and Nebula. He’s on Earth. He’s back. Why did they have to reveal that in the trailer! I mean, we know that he has to survive being stuck in space but come on, let the movie reveal that not the trailer. I also noticed that the trailer showed a lot of Hawkeye who will probably go as Ronin in the film, maybe. He looks ...

The first full trailer for Aladdin has been released and it looks really good. I am going to give Will Smith’s genie a chance because I am a fan of his and I thin he’ll bring his own spin to the character. Robin Williams was a genius and can never be replaced. I think it is okay that there is a new interpretation of the character. So I a going in with an open mind knowing that this is something different. Take a look at the trailer. A thrilling and vibrant live-action adaptation of Disney’s animated classic, “Aladdin” is the exciting tale of the charming street rat Aladdin, the courageous and self-determined Princess Jasmine and the Genie who may be the key to their future. Directed by Guy Ritchie, who brings his singular flair for fast-paced, visceral action to the fictitious port city of Agrabah, “Aladdin” is written by John August and Ritchie based on Disney’s “Aladdin.” The film stars Will Smith as the Genie; Mena Massoud as Aladdin; Naomi Scott as Jasmine; Marwan Kenzari as Jafar;...