BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #02851 Andy made a Homecoming proposal poster for their girlfriend. Andy choose titles from a band called Panic at the Disco to make the sign. Andy also made a really cool minecraft cat to give to Jazzy. Andy was going to do it this morning. Hope it went well. Not that there is any real pressure when you already have a girlfriend. But... we always want our kids to do better than we did. Andy certainly is.

Photo-A-Day #02850 On the way to work I stopped at Dunkin donuts because they were supposed to have the new Avengers: Doomsday promotional items. I found all the things and picke dup one of the tumblers and promptly pt it back when I saw it was $25. I don't need a new tumbler for that amount for any reason. I have two water bottles, one for Work and one for Home/Work in the Office. I also picked up my comic books. M.A.S.K. and GI JOE / Tomb Raider. This is a great crossover. Work was okay, I'm sort of getting a bit tired of the terrible communication and also being the one picking up after my boss all the time. I learned that I had two hours cut from my schedule on Friday. While the extra time at home is fine I'm missing out on some money and that is why I am working. The tough thing is that this business is struggling. I have my thoughts on why but I'll keep them to myself. It would be nice for a raise at some point but they can barely afford it.Let's hope that Tim...

Photo-A-Day #02849 Today were the mid-term elections. Allison and I got up early and headed to the polls in Attleboro. Allison wanted to get voting in before school and I wanted to get it done as soon as I could. The last time I voted I was so hopeful afterwards (I'm not counting the primaries, I did vote in them but that was neither hopeful nor super important to me) only to be completely crushed that night by the stupidity of the majority of Americans. Knowingly voting for a shambling garbage pile that barely passes for human astounded me and set me into a two year depression. But I'm a dad who has to keep going for my kids so that depression just gets focused into more and more bitterness and sarcasm. It was like every movie, tv show and book I had ever read where the hero wins was a complete and utter lie.It was crushing. So, today when so many elections across the country are poised to take back our country from the atrocious corrupt individuals in power I can't quite ...

Photo-A-Day #02848 Took andy to get one of their buttons fixed on their Invisalign today and afterwards we ran to Walmart to pick up some crafting materials. Andy wanted to make some eyeballs for some reason and so we found some foam golf balls that they could sand down to make smooth so that they could then paint the golf balls to look like eyeballs. Why? Just something to make. We got various other things and I think in the weeks ahead we will see more creativity coming form this arts and crafts area.

Photo-A-Day #02847 Today we went to University Station to Not Your Average Joes to have lunch with the whole family. We have not had the whole family together in a very long time. Not since the Summer. Eva came down from Boston, Mom and Dad from the Cape, Tara and Erik were here from Kentucky and Shelby and family came from Southboro. We met up and had a very nice lunch and nice time together. 

Photo-A-Day #02846 Today was Halloween and the kids are all grown up but each of them are having great nights with friends. Eva is off in Boston at college and going to see Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time with a full stage cast and the movie, I'm not sure exactly the venue but they are very excited for the event. They are going with two of their good friends and I cannot wait to hear what they thought of the show. Andy prepped for days for their Halloween. Last night they started making all of the amazing goodies for their friends. Today Andy went to their friend Emi's house for a Halloween party and a night of trick or treating. I did not go over to drop Andy and all the goodies off but Allison did and she got some great photos of Andy and Jazzy who went as Jack Skellington and Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas. Andy with Jazzy in their costumes. Andy made every edible thing on the table except for the pizza. There was so much food and the presentation is am...

Photo-A-Day #02845 Tonight after work I came home to Andy and their girlfriend, Jazzy, making treats for the Halloween Party tomorrow. Andy has all sorts of ideas for different treats. I think they are going to be making about 10 different things. Today was a busy one for me. I opened The Pretzel Factory this morning and worked until 5pm. Then stopped by America's Best Defense to bring them a giant box of pretzel bites and Halloween themed dips. They were very grateful for the treats.  Then I headed over to House of Fortune and picked up dinner for us. Now I have a night of work ahead of me. Very busy day.

Photo-A-Day #02844 Earlier this week I picked up some things at Michael's for Andy. I also found this little scratch art booklet for myself. When Andy got their Invisalign installed on Monday I started this page and Andy was done so quickly that I barely got much scratched off. It is a fun mindless activity.

Photo-A-Day #02843 Halloween is Andy's favorite holiday. This year they made 5 different pumpkins. these two little guys are from a cartoon called "Over the Garden Wall". Andy was excited to get a few pumpkins and carve them. Andy has also been preparing for Saturday where they are making about 15 different treats for their friends. Andy had been worried about all the dental stuff because of all the things that they would be making and was hoping not to miss out on everything. Luckily, things have been working out okay with the Invisalign.

Photo-A-Day #02842 The moon looked pretty awesome tonight and the sky had looked great with the clouds and that super bright moon. Capturing the moon with your camera phone is tough and almost always has an extra bit of light. I tried using night sight to get a better shot. 

Photo-A-Day #02841 Today Andy got fitted for Invisalign. Andy has been wanting braces/Invisalign for a long time and has not been happy with their smile. The breaking point was Andy's freshman photo. Andy had a simple smirk in the photo and when asked why they were not smiling Andy said that they hated their smile and their teeth. I looked into Invisalign that night. We got things going to get andy's teeth fixed up. And here is another image of Andy's smile. This is the smile of one who has to confront the fact that what they want is not going to happen despite best intentions. Andy was at their girlfriend's house helping to build an outdoor storage bin in exchange for the cardboard box that was used to ship it. Andy has been collecting cardboard for some project, not sure what the project is but something is being built. We tried to get much of the cardboard into my car but this piece in the image would not fit even sticking out the windows. We all told Andy it would n...

Photo-A-Day #02840 I planted a bunch of wildflowers in a mixture around the house and all through the Spring and Summer they did not bloom. Now after a first frost we have flowers on these giant wildflowers. No idea why.

Photo-A-Day #02839 Today Andy went to Attleboro Community Theater to work with the set crew to help do some building for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I got a really nice message from the person who is doing the set building. She was very happy with what Andy did to help.  On their way to the theater Andy picked up a Monster drink because the tab was a color that they did not already have in order to make another pop tab beetle. They are getting really good at these. Tonight I took Andy over to McDonalds for dinner. Allison was out with Colleen. It is always nice to have a little one on one time with Andy. If you wait long enough you get some good stories.

Photo-A-Day #02838 Tonight Allison and I went to see comedian Jim Jefferies at The Vets. It was a great show and we even got our seats upgraded when we got there. There weren't a ton of people so instead of being in the balcony we ended up in the mezzanine. We had a great view.

Photo-A-Day #02837 Eva came home last night and stayed for much of today. They had come home to pick up some costumes for the Connecticut Renaissance Faire this coming Sunday. It was nice to have Eva home even if it was a very brief amount of time. We went to lunch today with Allison before I had to head to work. Tonight Andy received a new messenger bag to bring around wherever they go. I love that Andy is going to be adorning this bag with all sorts of creative things.

Photo-A-Day #02836 Andy has put together a spell book to use at Dungeons and Dragons club. We ordered a blank notebook and then Andy covered it in some hot glue to spell out the work spells and add other decorations.

Photo-A-Day #02835 On Monday night Allison, Andy and I went to Bliss Dairy because they were doing Stuff a Stanley night where you pay $10 for 4 scoops of ice cream to put into any water bottle. We brought over three large water bottles and each got four scoops. I picked Oreo, Strawberry, Cookie Monster and Coffee Oreo. Got a few days out of this treat.

Photo-A-Day #02834 Andy has been creating different things using bottle caps and pop tabs. Andy's friends give them Monster energy pop tabs that are different colors. They also took bottle caps and bent them and painted them to look like Venus fly traps. Andy has been very creative lately.

Photo-A-Day #02833 Today Andy and I went over to ACT to help doing a bit of clean out. While I did not photograph the Mezzanine and back rooms where so many items are housed. That area has undergone many bad moments with water damage and crumbling walls with asbestos in the walls. So we popped on some masks and grabbed a few bags of garbage and filled the dumpster.  This is the smoking room of the Masons. The building has many floors and on this one they have these chairs and lots of implements for cigar smoking. They occasionally have a cigar night and I do not like when that corresponds to a ight when we have rehearsals. It stinks. After taking out the trash we helped bring some of the good items over to the storage unit that the theater has off site. We did about 2 hours of work in the afternoon and then I went home to get some more sleep.

Photo-A-Day #02832 This is the 40th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda. This was one of my favorite games from when I was a kid. Now they have a few new games that are being released this year. I picked up this game from Best Buy because I had a bunch of gift cards and I also ordered the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I never played that particular game and so it will be totally new to me. It is on pre-order now and I got that through Amazon using gift cards from my car insurance app. I got $40 in gift cards form that, too.