BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00578 Crayola sent us a bunch of free art supplies including their brand new Colors of the World crayons so that we could make our True Selfies. Opinions are our own.Crayola has created the Colors of the World crayon packs so that kids (and kids at heart) everywhere can truly represent themselves in their skin tone. With the 24 pack there are the 24 skin tones and in the 32 pack there are the 24 skin tones plus 4 hair color and 4 eye color crayons. The crayons include colors like Rose, Almond and Golden from Lightest to Deepest. I was asked to work with the kids to create their True Selfie and with that we used the Crayola Camera Color app which takes photos and making them black and white for coloring. I took the photos of the kids and then we converted them and printed them so the kids could color them. They took great care in determining which crayon best represented their skin tones. Andy went all out with his True Selfie. He colored the background as well. The col...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00577 This has been quite a year for sewing in our house. Allison got out her grandmother’s antique Singer sewing machine early on in the pandemic and began making masks for everyone. Then she found a deal on a refurbished Singer that could go something like 36 different stitches. I didn’t know that there was more than one type of stitch but I agreed that she should buy it. The sewing machine is now on The Cape and Eva spent much of the day sewing various projects. She made special masks for a woman the next street over. They call her “Joanie The Firecracker” and because of that Eva made masks with Firecracker fabric. Eva also had a secret project where she took an old Maxi Skirt and made it into a dress for her cousin, Kylie. Eva loves making special things for her cousins.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00576 At least once a Summer we do ice cream for dinner. Allison heard about a place that takes fresh donuts and makes ice cream sandwiches out of them. The place is called Ice Cream Sandwich in Sandwich, Ma. We looked it up online and found some very interesting commotion about the place. Let’s just say that there is a bit of drama happening. Despite that we went for a drive back down to the Bourne bridge and then over to the Sagamore to find Ice Cream Sandwich. We found it and were lucky to be there early since there were no other patrons. We could take our time ordering. I went with an ice cream sandwich in a cookie with cookies and cream ice cream and unicorn sprinkles all around the edge. We told the kids that they could get anything they wanted. Andy opted for a cup of watermelon sherbet and Eva for a waffle cone of ice cream. I was a bit jealous of her waffle cone because it was still warm. I do enjoy waffle cones. We’ll have to come back sometime for the do...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00575 Each Summer we head to Cape Cod to stay with my parents. This year has been a bit different. Allison and I take walks each morning (When it isn’t raining) and wear masks. We wear masks anytime we go anywhere outside the house. We wear them to and from the beach. Once there we make sure to be more than 6 feet apart from other people. We don’t go at peak times or the weekends so it is easier to distance. The kids are having great fun at the beach, they have some small nets and also their Froggles so they have been catching little fish. We are monitoring their interactions with the fish once it is caught and making sure that they release said fish about 5 minutes after they are caught. Most of the afternoon the kids were shouting to each other to “bring the bucket” because they had caught another fish. They had a great time swimming over and over. All of the kids are getting better and better at swimming. We had a nice dinner tonight and then went for a walk alo...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00574 I’ve been trying to make Andy’s room have a fun feel to it. He’s already chosen an amazing color that suits him. He’s got this incredible bunk bed/futon set-up, too. I thought that I’d take it a step further and add some cool lighting underneath the bed part and above the futon part. II had tried to use some LED strip lights. These aer lights that have a sticker backing and can be cut and customized to make all sorts of designs, at least in theory. I spent two hours trying to put these lights around one square of the bed. I could not get the lights to all stay on properly. So, I ended up ripping it all down and purchasing a set of Rope Lights instead. With these I was able to zip tie them in place and form them to look exactly the way I wanted them to look. This was something I should have done from the start but will learn from the mistake. However, I now have 65 feet of LED Strip lights that I am attempting to add to my bookcase for display o my Toys to Life To...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00573 At bedtime the kids come in to the office and we say prayers. I’m working at the computer and Andy walks in wearing my old Steam Dads lab coat, goggles and carrying his minions Crayola art case. Then he just looks up. The kid is hilarious when he is not trying to hard to be funny.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00572 This morning Andy came into my office with the sheet of paper above. He had found one of our Ed Emberley books. I had picked up a bunch of these books in hopes that the kids would enjoy them and create different drawings from them. Up to this point they had not paid them much mind but Andy was up early I guess and looking for something to do. Creating thumbprint art is something that Andy definitely liked because it meant putting his fingers onto stamping pads in order to make art. Get a little messy and at the same time create something. That does sound perfect for Andy. He did not simply follow the instructions, either. He created a few things on his own like the dragon and the narwhal. He also did a thumbprint portrait of me complete with bald head and goatee. We let Andy know that there were many more Ed Emberley books in the house and he can use them anytime. When I was a kid I’d love to get different Ed Emberley books out of the library and then draw all so...