BenSpark Family Adventures

Eva and John on the couch Jim and Dan on the floor (Who’s got the yellow man?) Last night Allison and I went to a dinner in honor of her Grandmother Eva. Eva turned 81 yesterday. We went to Alice’s home for a fantastic dinner and a night filled with fun and laughter. Here are some photo’s from the evening.Happy Birthday Eva! Marcia and Allison The roller coaster ride that is life with the Sparks’ Allison got a cute new haircut

Last night Allison and I saw Vance Gilbert and Ellis Paul at the Rogers Center at Merrimack College. Andrea drove Allison up and we met at Bertucci’s where Allison’s cousin Erin met the three of us for dinner. We had a nice dinner and fun conversation. Then we were off to the Rogers Center. The Rogers Center is a great place to see a performance. The seats are nice and wide and the acoustics are great. We were in the third row and would have been even closer if the stage had been set up closer to the audience, A fact that Vance commented on many times. Allison and I were impressed with Vance and his ability to make up songs on the spot and his humor. His musical talent was also great. Ellis as always was wonderful. We got to hear some of our favorites like “Put a Jukebox on my Grave” and “3000 Miles”. Andrea and Erin were Ellis newbies but I think that they also had a good time at the show. It was a great night and it was nice to share it with friends both old and new.

Allison’s Mini Simba Okay so I’m a loser. It has been nearly a month since Allison’s 26th birthday party and I have yet to post a message and photos about it. Mind you I had attempted to do this weeks ago while I was on my first trip to Vancouver. I had the time and the photos and I had even written a great message for the Blog. But I saved over the message and was so frustrated that I was not in the state of mind to properly rewrite the message. So that being said here are the photos from Allison’s Birthday. On January 10th Allison turned 26 and a fun fiesta was had by all at La Carreta in Manchester. Allison’s friends Beth, Jenn, T.R. and Tina were in attendance as well as Ken and Alicia and Allison’s parent’s Dan and Marcia. We had some mega margaritas and great Mexican food. Allison got some very nice gifts and some, how shall I put it, ‘interesting’ gifts from the trouble triplets. Tina made a very special basket for Allison, and Ken and Alicia got Allison a transformer, and no sh...

Happy birthday, you handsome devil! – Derek Last night we went to Derek’s Surprise 30th Birthday Party at Asia Grille in Lincoln, RI. What a fun night. Michelle pulled off a great evening. There was great food, good people, fantastic renditions of famous songs by amateur singers (Karaoke of course!), Scorpion Bowls, Fear Factor and some big dance numbers. Check out the photos for a recap of the events. Mike Walach (pictured here with his fiance Anna) is a fine craftsman and a mean dancer. Derik, Derek and Neil – Drew Paradise by the Dashboard Light! – Derek The Ladies Man – Drew Where did my friends go? – Steve Why did the DJ put this stupid hat on my head? – Neil Why is the DJ touching me? – Derek Damn I’m Sexy in this hat – Drew Your Hands Are COLD! – Drew It’s a gummy worm, not a tequila or computer worm! – Steve Hey Macarena! – Drew Conga This! – Steve Shake it up Baby! – Drew Gracias, Grazzi, Gracias – Derek SUCK IT DOWN! – Steve U2 picture – background, friendly folk – foreground...

So I’m sitting here in the Vancouver Airport awaiting my 10:45pm flight. It is now 11:30pm. Which is real close to my original flight time. Fun, fun! Have you ever had to wait for an entire 777 airplane’s passenger list to be re ticketed? I have! And let me tell you, it is as joyful as they say it is. Standing in line listening to ‘experts’ discuss what can be done to improve air travel. Guess what? Shut up! Nobody cares what you think. Why is it that it is always the idiots who express their opinion to anyone and everyone, who are the loudest people on the planet? Just let me stand in line, and get my new ticket, without listening to you prattle on with your conspiracy theories and witticisms. Okay my rant is done, for now. I have a feeling that we won’t be making our 11:50pm departure time either. Oh well, another nail in the coffin regarding the theory of Allison’s that Vancouver is evil. Vancouver however is not evil. I look forward to returning in two weeks to do this once again. ...

  So, here in Vancouver there is a strange thing that I just had to experience, Boston Pizza. They are everywhere. I went to Boston Pizza last night for dinner just to go there and check it out. Expecting a Boston themed restaurant I was surprised not to find any Boston decorations or anything. It’s just them name of the place. It made me laugh to see, Boston Pizza rather than New York or Chicago Pizza, because frankly pizza is not what I associate with Boston, no matter how many times I’ve been to the North End. The only references I saw to Boston were on the menu, I had the Boston Royal Pizza, (Pepperoni, Ham, Peppers, Mushrooms, Olives, Onions and Shrimp.) Weird. They also have a Boston Extreme Heat sauce for the wings, which were not at all as good as the wings at Montana’s (Which by the way was themed like a lodge in Montana.) Despite the false advertising of this restaurant having anything to do with Boston the pizza was actually decent.

  I’m in Fogville. Every morning it is dark, every night it is dark, every afternoon, well you know the rest. I am in Vancouver BC and it has been foggy and cold each day so far, oh and its rained for a change too. So, I’ve not been uploading images this week. I’m on a dial-up too and I’m not able to really upload much of anything. I tried to take another picture from my hotel window again. If you would like a big grey image I would upload it, but however it is not much fun. I bought an umbrella. I rented movies Charlie’s Angels 2 and Bulletproof Monk. I can rent in BC now from Blockbuster. Both movies were okay, lots of crashes and fights, guy movie stuff. (i.e. Movies that make Allison’s eyes roll.) I found a new chicken wing sauce that is my new favorite. Honey Garlic! I had dinner at a restaurant called Montana’s last night and had chicken wings that were fried in cornmeal then coated with Honey Garlic sauce. They were awesome! Hopefully the sun will come out so I can get pictu...