BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01179 Nintendo gave me a free download code so that I could try out the new Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Opinions are my own. The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — Booster Course Pass is some brand new downloadable content for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This will includes remastered courses from throughout the Mario Kart series for you and your family to race through on your Nintendo Switch! there are destinations courses like Paris Promenade and Tokyo Blur from the Mario Kart Tour mobile game or get nostalgic with favorites like N64 Choco Mountain and Wii Coconut Mall from past Mario Kart games. The Booster Course Pass is available for $24.99 or if you have a paid Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership then it is included. The content will be released in 6 waves – 8 courses in each wave for a total of 48 courses – starting now with this first wave and extending through the end of 2023. The first 8 courses have been released and they are a blast to play...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01178 Andy has a new iPad cover. The color is Persimmon and he loves it. I think he has needed a new one for some time because the old one is definitely falling apart because of how often he uses his iPad. It is his lifeline to his friends, his primary gaming device and it helps him calm before bed. That last part must work really well because he’s now a late sleeper, but only on week days. On weekends when he can sleep in he’s up and out of bed very early. Andy double striped on his Stripe Test today and is on track again. One of the stripes that they put on his belt this time around was a Leadership stripe. His instructor, Mr. Kyle, has been working with the kids on developing a leadership mindset and I like that the school is now adding these special stripes into the mix. while Eva already earned her strip on Tuesday the class today was of techniques that are not often taught in regular classes. while my class learned strike set 9 in the morning, Eva’s class w...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01177 I was taking a walk today at the park and saw that these flowers were coming up in a few places. I am not sure if they are some form of crocus but they are out at the same time that those early flowers are at my house. It has been a while since I have taken a walk and I had been walking daily early in the pandemic. Allison and I were both home all the time so we would go for walks and would try and get 10,000 steps a day in. I haven’t been walking like that in a while but I am trying to get myself back into it so I can work up to running a few miles to get ready to retest for my Black Belt. I won’t be retesting until December or so but I know that it is going to be very difficult so I have to get back into the mindset of training. It has been difficult for me to get into that mindset after failing that first time out. I know that everyone gets to where they are supposed to be in their own time. I let the discouragement set in and with that I let myself back...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01176 today was stripe test day for Eva and I. We both had some very challenging classes to earn our stripes. Andy’s class was a pre-test day with the full stripe test to be on Thursday. Andy did really well with the nunchuk and self-defense portions of his test, which is pretty much the whole thing. He still has work to do on some of his kicks but he is trying. He missed his previous stripe test but had been to classes for all of the last session. He’ll likely test and then do an extra bit in order to double stripe this Thursday.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01175 Yesterday a new season of Fortnite dropped and it is time for me to get creating again. I have been creating content for this game for a few years now and it has made all the difference for my YouTube channel. Because of Fortnite my channel gained 6,000 subscribers. It is not a lot by any means compared to so many channels out there but it has meant momentum for growth and with each new season of the game I get to create new content that can help players. I did a lot of filming today and managed to capture this still during the filming. I think I was quite surprised to get eliminated so early.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01174 I think these guys went and popped up the other day. So, I am a bit late with this year’s photo of them. Today was a tough sleeping day. I barely slept at all. Just could not get sleeping no matter what I tried. Eventually I just got up and started making videos for this season of Fortnite. The new season dropped at 3am but people could not get on and connected until around 2pm today. I ended up making 3 videos. Hopefully I’ll stay awake tonight.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01173 Allison made corned beef hash for dinner tonight. This is one of our favorite leftovers dinner of the year. I slept for the day so not much going on with me. Eva went and helped her friend Bailey at Bailey’s aunt’s baby shower. She had a very nice time and came home with a new plant. Andy did some more time ont he treadmill and he also watched the rest of the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He did not like it and is not very much upset by Oompah Loompahs. He and Allison had to work through some guided meditations to get the thoughts of them out of his mind. He also did not like the movie because he said it was ridiculous to go through the whole ordeal only to fly away in an elevator.