BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01823 I had the day off for New Year’s Eve and we took it easy most of the day. We prepared for our friends The PRestons to come over to celebrate the new year. They have two girls who are older than Andy and the other is older and Eva. However, they all get along so well and the kids have so many interests that compliment each other. We even learned that one daughter loves to paint swords. I think I know who to send The Sword of Omens when it is time to paint. Allison and I always have great conversations with Aaron and Denise. We haven’t seen each other in a long time but it was so nice to get back together as if no time had passed.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01817 Christmas Day here was a bit different than past years. We were going to be spending the entire day on our own because we’re spending the next couple of days with family on the Cape. We started off our morning with Stockings and cinnamon rolls. Allison made them fresh the other day and we had plenty for our morning. We took our time with everything and slowly opened our gifts. We didn’t go fully overboard this year because there was one big gift for everyone and Allison and I had already given ourselves a night out as a gift so we were a bit more reserved with the overall gift giving this year. Allison got the kids each some stuffed animals from IKEA that they loved. Andy got a octopus and Eva a shark. I just know that Eva is going to do some project with that. Andy was a the prankster by wrapping a can of soup for me that looked like a mug. I have this thing about the number of mugs we have in the house. There are too many so when we were shopping and Andy sugg...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01816 Christmas Eve this year was a little different. I worked overnight and normally I try and take both the weekend of Christmas and the Weekend of New Years off. However, with the small group that I am part of I did not want to leave everyone in a lurch so I did work a couple nights this weekend and had today off to get ready for tomorrow. I slept for a bit and when I got up I went over to Chubs Blue Pig BBQ to pick up our Christmas meal. This year since we were not going to be with everyone in the family we decided to switch things up and go for BBQ instead. Chubs had a order form a couple of weeks back so that we could get a few things that we liked and we could pick them up on Christmas Eve to warm them up on Christmas day. We went with ribs, pulled pork, wings and mac and cheese. I was able to pop in and pick everything up and get home to get ready for the rest of the day. We went to 4pm Mass at Sacred Heart. It was not packed as it had been on past years but th...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01815 The other day Allison took Andy shopping for Christmas and Andy picked up a few things for themselves. One thing was this LEGO Floral centerpiece. Andy built it yesterday and it now adorns out table for the holiday. while it is more of a Fall sort of thing it is still very pretty and makes a nice centerpiece.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01807 Allison was out tonight so I had the kids decorate their mini Christmas trees so that Allison could see them when she returned home. We’re slowly getting everything ready for Christmas in 10 days. We still have a lot left to do but we’re keeping on track. I started keeping these trees and the ornament boxes for those trees up in the attic so it was easier to go and get them each season. I also keep Allison’s grandmother’s ceramic christmas tree up there and I went ahead and set that up in our bedroom as a surprise for her to see when she got home.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01785 Today was thanksgiving and we spent it on Cape Cod with my parents. Andy helped out by making a very nice charcuterie board for everyone to enjoy. Andy loves making these and is constantly learning new ways of presentation. Allison and I got out for a little walk along the beach. It was sunny but chilly. We had a nice walk despite the chill. Thanksgiving dinner was very nice. We had turkey and all the fixings. I looked at my Facebook memories for this date and several photos in the memories were of the sunset from the sunporch. This is the best time of year for that because the sky looks awesome at sunset and so I took another one. One of our family traditions is matching pajamas for Christmas. We get new ones each year. This year Allison got them from Old Navy. These ones fit best out of many we’ve gotten over the years. I am very happy about them.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01762 This year Andy got to go trick or treating again. Last year they had Covid so were unable to go out and trick or treat. Andy was pretty let down on that front last year. Luckily they were happy and healthy this year so Andy and their friend, Tristan went trick or treating, with me, around the neighborhood. It was a pretty light night and we hit plenty of houses but it was pretty sparse in finding houses that were celebrating. After the trick or treating Allison and I watched the first two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and also It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. Eva had her friend Steven over to hang out and they had fun doing just that. I could not get her to come and watch Buffy with us. I know she’s like it if she gave it a shot.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01644 We are here on the Cape and it is Fourth of July. Andy decided to may red, white and blueberry pancakes and arrange them as if they were the American flag. Very creative. The weather for much of the day was pretty lackluster. We had rain during the annual parade but we walked around through it. I helped carry the giant American flag. Andy rollerbladed the whole route and did pretty well. We had a cook out tonight with burgers and dogs. Unfortunately, the fireworks were postponed until tomorrow night. We did have another night of front porch sitting. The crowds were not a large as the night before but they were still pretty big.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01593 For Mother’s Day today we went to The Purple Rooster for breakfast. Then I had to go to sleep. Allison took the kids to church and to shop for food and get Covid boosters. Tonight Allison grilled up some fantastic steaks for dinner. It was a nice day over all.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01535 We had a very nice Saint Patrick’s Day today. The kids and Allison had a day off from school so they were able to enjoy being home and doing a few things for fun. Andy helped Allison make some Irish soda bread and play with some friends. Eva got to make some videos and have a visit with Auntie Tara. I came home from the Cape this morning and got home in time to enjoy bagels with everyone. I took a nap around the time that Tara was heading to the Cape. Our dinner was very nice. Eva teased Andy about not wearing any green and Andy went up and put on everything great that they have. I enjoyed one of my two drinks of the year with some Guinness in a special glass. I can’t recall when I last drank from this glass either. After dinner I worked from home and it was an eventful night with a down to the wire project with one of our sites. I don’t think I’d like that to happen again, too stressful.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01504 This year Valentine’s Day fell on a Tuesday and so with it being a Taco Tuesday we decided to go and get some tacos from El Azteca. I had suggested Taco Bell but got voted down on that one. So instead I ordered a bunch of tacos from El Azteca along with some Mexican rice and we had a great meal. I also picked up a few other goodies for everyone for Valentine’s Day. Shaw’s did chocolate covered strawberries so I got an order of those. They also did chocolate dipped cookie bouquets and I picked those up too. We had a nice meal together and enjoyed the day.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01459 Because we were away for Christmas we celebrated our Christmas as a family this morning. Santa left some gifts for the kids under the tree and we opened all the other gifts from each other. Santa brought the kids each XBox controllers and headsets so that they could play on my old XBox that I moved down to the living room. Now they can play various with their friends without having to use two devices at the same time. Eva got a few things for her various projects including some new boots and Amazon and Michael’s gift cards. She was very excited about the boots. they are a bit big so they’ll have to be exchanged, though. She can’t wait to work on her next project, though. Andy’s big gift was a Ninja Creami. This device lets Andy create all sorts of frozen treats. He cannot wait to start making all sorts of ice creams for everyone. Allison got me a nice new sign for my office. It is of my gamertag. That is the name I use when playing games online. I guess BenSpark ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01453 Our first Christmas in Florida. We got up and enjoyed some cinnamon rolls and then opened our stockings. The kids got Fitzy’s letter and enjoyed reading it. Andy decorated the cinnamon rolls with gum drops because we had gum drops. We watched the Christmas Mass Eve at our church back home last night. I had forgotten to mention that in yesterday’s post. For Christmas we had a bunch of snacks out, opened gifts, enjoyed a great meal and hot chocolate and more Christmas movies. Dano and Mimi’s friend Mark came for dinner. Andy got along very well with him and enjoyed talking with him. It was a very nice day filled with some fun moments and lots of great food. The kids had a great time opening their gifts. Fitzy even snuck in one gift for Andy. When we were at Cracker Barrel Andy saw a tiny Bob Ross figure and asked if he could get it. I had already seen it and picked it up for him for Christmas so I told him no. He was unhappy with that but he didn’t make a fus...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01452 For Christmas Eve we continued to do some baking and preparing for Christmas day. We hung out at the house for the day and in the later afternoon we started watching Christmas specials and enjoying the Mikey Mouse shaped cookies that I picked up when we were at Disney Springs. We may have run to the store again, too. Andy is having fun here and enjoying hanging out on the front porch. This was his get off my lawn pose. Later in the evening we all got into our family pajamas and took photos by the tree. We watched A Christmas Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas and I think the Elf on the Shelf Christmas movie, too. We may have watched Home Alone during the day as well. Before Bed Allison wrote out the yearly letter from Fitzy to the kids. We put out some cookies for Santa and went to bed.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01446 We celebrated Christmas early this year because we are doing things a bit differently in 2022. We are heading to Florida for the holiday and so in order to see everyone on my side of the family we had our Christmas Eve Chicken Stew dinner with Mem and Grandfather, Tara and Erik, Shelby and Tim and the cousins Dylan and Kylie. We hosted everyone at our house for the afternoon. Andy learned how to make meat roses from the pepperoni, salami and more salami from a YouTube Short and he did an excellent job setting up the Charcuterie board. He worked really hard at it, too. His first one did not come out right because the glass was too big, however he redid it in a wine flute and got his ideal flower. Allison made her Christmas time famous chicken stew that is something that everyone in the family can enjoy. There were gluten free rolls for our gluten free family members and Pillsbury biscuits for everyone else. We were able to all fit around the dining room tabl...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01424 The kids helped Mem and Grandfather put up their tree today. This tree is in the living room and they will get a living tree for the sunporch. Decorating the tree the day after Thanksgiving has been a tradition for the kids and their grandparents. Today was a relaxing day we hung out, went downtown for a little shopping and tonight Uncle Jim bought dinner from The Quarterdeck. After dinner we all watched A Christmas Story Christmas. I think everyone enjoyed the movie even though the kids swear that they have not seen the original. I know I have tried to show it to them, though.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01423 Today we celebrated thanksgiving on Cape Cod. It was a very nice day filled with good food and family. After our meal Allison and I went for a walk along the beach. Andy went for a walk with Uncle Jim. they went for a nice long walk and Andy really enjoyed spending time with him. I noticed that the benches along the beach were decorated with some wreaths and thought I’d capture them along with the sunset which was again beautiful. We were very lucky with each night’s amazing sunset. We hung out tonight and watched some of the Patriots game. They did not win, unfortunately. But, we had a nice night hanging out and being with family. Speaking of family we all donned our new family pjs for Christmas. While starting Christmas traditions this early doesn’t sit well with Eva she does enjoy this one and so we got together for a family photo on the sunporch to wear the family Christmas pjs for the first time tonight. We’ve been doing this for many years now and it ...