BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01021 I am completely floored that Eva is one year away from High School. Today we visited my Alma Mater, Bishop Feehan High School. It was Open House and it was very eye opening. I graduated 30 years ago and so much has changed at the school. For instance the building that was once the place where we took religion classes which was dubbed “Little City of God” by the students is now the arts center. If Eva decides to go to Feehan I suspect that his will be her favorite place to spend time. Watching the presentation was really interesting to me. I loved my time at Feehan, it was a fantastic school and I have always wanted my kids to go there too. However, if either decides to go to another school then that will be their decision. Eva was very interested in some of the clubs that are offered at the school. We noticed many posters all around the school for so many different clubs. I also noticed that the school had an eSports program and that was very interesting to Andy....

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01020 Today was Warrior Weekend at America’s Best Defense. This was a 6-hour training session with multiple breakout sessions for everyone. I started with a session with Kathy Long who is a champion kickboxer. She gave us a great session on boxing moves and kicking moves. It was about a two-hour session. It was really informative and fun. We went from there to a session on third-party knife defense with Sensei Nordberg and Mr. Brochu. This was very useful to get some more work on knife defense as I prepare for my black belt test. This led into the next session with Sensei Sanders and Sensei Pan from Franklin. They did a session on gun defense from odd positions like sitting and from far behind. Our last session was ground fighting with Mr. Jimmy. Lots of breakfalls and more. This one was a tough one to end on but it was very useful. The day was an excellent one and I had a lot of fun even though I was wiped out from last nights black belt assessment. I know I’m really ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01019 I have to run. I have to run because I am working on earning my Black Belt in Krav Maga and there are physical requirements that have to be passed in order to pass the test. In addition to knowing and being able to perform and apply my Krav Maga curriculum I have to do a certain number of push ups and squats as well as a plank for a certain amount of time and a mile run within a specific time as well. I went to D.B. Sports today and picked up these new Hoka sneakers. I had never heard of these before but the folks at D. B. Sports helped me pick them out. I explained that I run like a cement mixer with an unbalanced load of concrete laced with lead. I also explained that I have neuropathy in my feet. He had me take off my shoes and walk a bit so he could see how I walked. He also checked my current sneakers for wear on them. Based on that he put me in a couple of shoes including these Hoka ones. They felt really, really comfortable. So I got them. Last night was m...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01018 At Eva’s birthday party the kids had a ton of candy. There was 6 pounds of Sour Patch Kids. It is one of the kids favorite candies. Alison put everything out in jars. I was looking for something to photograph tonight and so I took a photo of them in the jars. They are so colorful.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01017 I’ve been putting a few things on my car to accessorize it. I bought a Transformers symbol that I thought was much larger but it turned out to be 1 inch. Because it was so small I placed it next to the GT symbol at the back of my car. I also bought some red claw marks and put those on the car, I may take them off and get some new ones and place them on much better now that I know how they work.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01016 I took a trip over to Walmart today and while I was there I found a couple of things. I found the Coronation Starscream figure that is part of the Transformers R.E.D. line. These are movie and TV accurate figures that are poseable and come with accessories.  They do not transform but they look incredible. This one of Starscream is from Transformers The Movie where Starscream ascends to the throne of the Decepticons. However, this was not a monarchy. Starscream just has a super inflated ego and so he took it upon himself to crown himself leader of the Decepticons. I wonder where he got the crown in the first place. Well, it was short lived because Galvatron shows up and reduces Starscream to ash moments later. The figure is cool because it comes with the crown and the cape and even these shoulder thingies to make Starscream look bigger than he is. They included additional hands and also laser fire accessories so that his harm lasers look like they are firing. ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01015 Today we went to King Richard’s Faire. I did not think that we were going to make it this year because of all the time I have to take with testing for my Black Belt in Krav. However, we were gifted free tickets for the family and I was able to get enough time to take yesterday off so I wouldn’t be completely dead on my feet today. This year we took Eva’s friend Bridget with us. Eva was very excited to have her along. Eva had also made her entire costume for the faire. She designed it, and did all the sewing on it as well. She also made Andy’s cloak. We did not know if we’d see our friend Ryan at the faire but he was there. This year he is Pulcinella, the town crier. It was nice to get a few minutes to chat with him before we went off and explored the realm. We arrived a little before the gates opened and were able to see the introduction skits that happen before the gates open wide. Then we went in, saw our friend Julie (Thanks for the tickets!!) and also our fri...