BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #02829 I had the day off at The Pretzel Factory today in order to bring Andy to a dentist appointment to have their wisdom teeth extracted. That is not going to happen until January but Andy is also getting Invisalign and when they had their root canal last week the doctor said that the teeth should be extracted before Andy starts Invisalign. All in all to get Andy's teeth done completely we're looking at about $10K in expenses. It could be less from insurance but not too likely much less. Pushing the procedure to January does allow us to use the full extent of the dental insurance with the Wisdom Teeth extraction. Invisalign only knocks $2000 off with insurance and that works out to be close to $6K.  We were told that the teeth should be extracted before Invisalign but I called the Invisalign place to reschedule Andy's appointment and they said that the covers would not touch the wisdom teeth so that we can still go ahead with that before the other procedure. T...

Photo-A-Day #02828 I've been re-listening to the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and found an artist online who has some great items. I got a sticker for my water bottle (not pictured but looks like the gauntlet pin), a sticker for my car and also two pins. Re-listening to the book has been a lot of fun. I'm picking up on so many things that I missed the first time around. This is the sort of series that a repeated re-read/re-listen is very helpful in understanding the whole crazy set of events. I may even meet some crawlers in the wild because of my bumper sticker.

Photo-A-Day #02827 Allison bought a set of paint by number paintings for us to do together for our living room. Unfortunately the whole thing was about the size of an 8X10 image. These were very very small and difficult to paint. But the kids and Allison gave it a try. I pretty much said no thanks and painted it the way I wanted to because there was no way I could paint something that small accurately. It was a nice activity. We did this and then went to Bliss for lunch before Allison and I dropped Eva off at the train station so they could head back to school.

Photo-A-Day #02826 Eva came home from college on Friday night for the holiday weekend. It also happened to be Eva's birthday weekend. I was at the office that night and also at the office on Saturday night. So, I was not able to spend that much time with Eva. However, I did take Eva for breakfast on Saturday morning to continue our yearly tradition of a birthday breakfast together.  Tonight we had a meal of Eva's choosing to celebrate their birthday. Eva chose steak and roasted potatoes for dinner and wanted whoopie pies instead of a cake. Andy and Allison made the whoopie pies and Andy added the birthday candles to the pile. I grilled the steak that we all enjoyed. It has been really nice having Eva back home for the first time. Allison was able to spend some extra time with Eva and when Andy came home from the football game on Friday they also got to spend time with Eva. It was a nice time for everyone.

Photo-A-Day #02825 Eva is home for the holiday weekend and also their birthday. Of course this is a weekend where I have to hold everything down at work because Shaun is off in AZ. When I came home from work I took Eva over to Morin's to enjoy a breakfast together. This has been our tradition for so many years. We've had great breakfasts and crazy ones like mini donuts in a Cumberland Farms parking lot. It was great to have some time to chat one on one with Eva, too. 

Photo-A-Day #02824 I saw this Dungeon Crawler Carl t-shirt on Tik Tok and it is one of the coolest one's I have ever seen because it encapsulates so much that I love like this series and video games. Making Carl and Donut pixelated like they were in Super Mario Bros looks so cool. Maybe when I wear it around I may run into other "crawlers" these are fellow readers of the books.

Photo-A-Day #02823 We've been making some pumpkin themed pretzels at Philly Pretzel Factory. Some look like pumpkins and others look like jack-o-lanterns. We put out a special of 4 of these and some pumpkin dips. We made some cinnamon style and some salted style, too.

Photo-A-Day #02822 Today while I was at the comic book store I noticed that they had a collected set of the comic D'orc. I'd been thinking about picking up the comic for me and for Andy. It was an interesting comic. The main character is a half orc/half dwarf. The story is interesting and weird and I think Andy will love it.

Photo-A-Day #02821 Tonight was the read through for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I was cast as Fireman #2. There are no lines for this role except in the stage notes. So the director will be writing lines for me and Fireman #1. I liked the movie from when I was a kid and I am happy to be a part of this production.

Photo-A-Day #02820 I've been thinking about a sleep mask for a while and I learned about the Manta Sleep Sound Mask. This is very comfortable and includes some Bluetooth speakers built in. I have been able to help myself sleep better on weekends by playing audiobooks and sticking my phone under my pillow. With this I can keep my phone on the charger and listen through the mask. And keeping the room dark won't matter with it either.

Photo-A-Day #02819 I've had this Blokees figure in a box since Christmas and have had every intention of building it for some time. Tonight I finally built it. This is Bumblebee from the Transformers movie. It was fun to build. Can't decide is I'd like to get any more of this kind. Maybe the Soundwave one.

Photo-A-Day #02818 Allison and I attended the Marriage Prep program today at Saint Mary's Church. We went to the dinner last night to meet all of the engaged couples. It was a full house with a lot of laughter and discussion. Today was the actual day of the program. We have been doing a dinner the night before so that everyone can feel comfortable with the team on the second day. I got their later because I had to sleep after work.  Towards the end of the program we went outside to see a newly married couple exit the church. This couple had been part of our Spring marriage prep program. They were so thrilled to see everyone there clapping for them as they exited. I should have caught a photo of them but didn't have my phone out at the time.

Photo-A-Day #02817 I had seen some photos from another Philly Pretzel factory where they made some pumpkin and jack-o-lantern pretzels. I showed my boss and suggested that he run a special on them with the new seasonal  pumpkin dip. Like 3 pretzels and pumpkin dip for $3 or something like that. Not sure if he will do it but he did make a bunch and I took three home today.

Photo-A-Day #02816 James now spend a lot of time with Allison and me. I got him some cat stairs so that he could easily get up on the bed and he uses that to his advantage every night and sleeps with us. I hope that when Eva returns for visits he'll go back and sleep in their bed. He does tend to take off when it is just me sleeping in the bed. That is after he's licked my arm a few times. But if I try and pet him he's gone.