BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #02716 Today at The Pretzel Factory my boos made these twice dipped cinnamon pretzels. He takes the pretzel and coats it in the butter and cinnamon like we normally do then he bakes it again and then dips it in the butter one more time and also in the cinnamon a second time. It gets an almost creme Brule type of crunch to it.

Photo-A-Day #02715 Allison bought a large box of Georgia peaches and one of the things that were done with them was making them into a Peach syrup. Specifically Andy decided that they would like to make some Peach Syrup. When we went to IKEA Andy bought a bunch of squeeze bottles that have many uses. So in order to put them to use Andy started a simple syrup of peaches. Andy is quite excited for this to be ready. Also today was Andy's trip to Six Flags for the 8th grade field trip. Last night I set Andy up with the ability to make payments using their phone. The nice thing is that it is set up to alert Allison and I that a purchase has been made, Inside the park they could only use credit cards or load cash onto a card. It made more sense to have Andy use a credit card. They did not go overboard. Andy did have a great time with their friends.

Photo-A-Day #02714 Today was Father's Day and I slept most of the day because of work last night. When I did get up I grilled up some T-Bone steaks that Allison had picked up as ell as some potatoes and Zucchini and Squash. Allison also made a couple of scallops from a bag of Frozen ones that I had gotten a while back.  It was a nice dinner and the kids gave me their cards and also some gifts. I giant container of peanuts and also a giant container of Almonds. I also got some grill cages for vegetables to use in the future. Both cards made me cry. The kids wrote some very nice things. After dinner they took care of the trash for me and we took a family selfie out in the back yard by the garden and grill. My favorite things according to Allison. the garden is going gangbusters and I should have my own Squash and Zucchini soon.

Photo-A-Day #02713 A few years ago before my Grandma Bennett passed away she had asked me to convert VHS tapes to DVDs using a combination DVD/VCR that she had. I did a few at that time. A few weeks ago my cousin found some old VHS tapes from the other side of the family and one of those tapes was a trip to Disney that Grandma and Grandpa Williams took me on. It was just after Grandpa bought a VHS camera, it was one of the first commercial ones, too. I had not seen that video since the days after returning from the trip. So I want to convert that to digital to have it. Making DVDs with this thing is so much about Trial and Error. You would think it was a one button thing but it is not. There is more that has to be done to do it right and we are learning that we don't have it right, quite yet. But we are working on it and making it work correctly. I hope.

Photo-A-Day #02712 Everyone had the day off from school today. Allison and Eva are already out of school but Andy still has a week left. Allison and Eva went and got haircuts and later on I took Andy with me over to An Unlikely Story. Andy had some gift cards and picked up a watercolor set and a special book for painting watercolors of birds. Andy said that they would pace themselves as they painted so as not to go through the whole book too quickly. In the afternoon I went to work at The Pretzel Factory. Today was a very short day. I only worked 3 hours but the first hour was super busy. More busy than normal. One of the people from ACT had come in for pretzels and then he went and left a review of the place and mentioned me. My boss there was very happy. Then we had an order from one of the marriage prep couples that we work with. They had gotten pretzels from me a while back, too. I keep trying to bring in more customers.

Photo-A-Day #02711 Today I brought some sliced olives and banana peppers into the Pretzel Factory to make another pizza. Tim took the pizza dough and put it in the lye bath and added salt tot he crust. Then he fired it in the oven for 2 rotations. He next took it out and I added the toppings. Then we baked it a full 7 minutes. The pizza came out great. Tonight I went to the Attleboro Community Theater for the Board meeting. I brought a bunch of pretzels with me along with many of the dips. The main point of the meeting tonight was to vote int he new board. I decided to run as a write in and was elected. Now I have lots of events to attend with ACT. My first will be North Attleboro Pride Festival next Saturday. should be a lot of fun.

Photo-A-Day #02710 Allison had her last day of school at SMSH today. She made a bunch of shirts for the teachers that featured the most frequently asked questions. After school she and some of the other teachers took one of her teacher friends to lunch at Los Antojitos.  I had work at the Pretzel Factory today. Very busy towards the end of the night. I am in constant motion while I am there. We had a bunch of pretzels left at the end of the night so I took a whole Founder's Day Box over to the Fire Station that was on our way home. The fire fighters were very happy to receive a ton of pretzels.