BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #02641 I turned 52 today. When I came downstairs Allison showed me the fridge. Overnight one of the bottles of milk froze and exploded. I'm glad that I did not have work today because the whole morning was taken up with taking everything out of the fridge and cleaning up the spilled milk. Quite the metaphor for growing up Gen X. Not to cry over spilled milk because it can always be worse. Once the fridge was fully cleaned and everything was put back in I was able to get a little time to myself to relax. Played some Styx and some Fortnite and got to enjoy my new office chair. It had been far too long in replacing that one.  I headed over to have lunch with Mom and Dad. We ate at The Tavern. I had short ribs and mashed potatoes. They were excellent. Then I hung out in the Shaw's parking lot until it was time to pick up Eva. Running home would not have made much sense. So I picked up Eva and we headed home. Mom and Dad finished all their errands and then met us at the ...

Photo-A-Day #02637 We spent our Easter on Cape Cod with Mem and Grandfather. I finished work today at 7am and went right to bed thinking that I would wake up around 11 like I normally do but I slept until everyone got back from church. I heard the alarm on the door go off and that woke me. I was so zonked out that once my head hit the pillow I was out plus it is The Cape so the air makes me sleep all the longer. When I woke up we hung out a bit and then had a very tasty Easter lunch with the ham that I got from work. That is our Christmas gift from the company. I've gotten many things like that over the years for Christmas and this year decided on ham because we never need the turkey after Christmas and I'd rather not have it take up space in the freezer for a long time. This way we get a really good ham for our Easter and the freezer gets some space. Later in the afternoon my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Wayne came by to visit. We enjoyed visiting with them and then we headed home in ...

Photo-A-Day #02636 We are on the Cape for the Easter holiday. We got down and had lunch then I took a nap before work. Got up and we had pizza from Paul's for dinner. Andy had everyone watching Atlantis: The Lost Empire after dinner. Andy has been watching lots of old Disney animated movies. I like that Andy has been exploring these old movies. After dinner I set up for work. When I am anywhere but home I have to set up a ton of stuff including an additional screen. I completely overtook the sun porch table. I have it all down to a science. My parent's got a new router and that has caused a few things to stop working. Mainly the Sonos speaker. I figured that out and got that working again so now they can play whatever music they like from Spotify. Then there was the general updates for my dad's computer and also trying to figure out why Quicken accounts were looking all sorts of strange with charges showing as credits and vice versa. I think I got that figured as well.

Photo-A-Day #02630 This afternoon we had lunch with Tar and Erik at Morins. We went for the meal and the advice on college funding. We're working on how to fund Eva's first year of college. We're in that "No need" level of college funding and that means taking out plenty of loans. So we are working on how to best do that. So I've got a lot of research to do to get the best rates I can for loans and we are also looking at scholarships. while we were there Erik told us about how much he has fond memories of the Charlie Burger and how he and his grandparents used to split them whenever they went there. They liked the renovations that were made to the place. I told them that they had to see the sign on the side of the building, it really gives the place a great look. Before we went to lunch Mem and Grandfather stopped over to congratulate Eva on her award at the METG Festival.

Photo-A-Day #02629 Tonight we celebrated my sister Tara for her 50th birthday. Erik hosted the event at The Blackinton Inn's carriage house. We had an excellent meal, appetizers and good conversations. Many of Tara's friends came for the party. A few I have not seen in years and it was so nice to see them.  We sat with Mem and Grandfather as well as their friends Heather and Brian Johnson. I spent time chatting with my cousin Matt, Brian, Tim and a few other people. It was full of Tara's good friends that have been friends of hers for so many years. Great to see most of them had come to see and celebrate her. And speaking of Celebrating, we are celebrating a big win for Eva. She won an award for Technical Excellence in Costume Design from the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild tonight. We were watching along with the livestream but couldn't really see much of anything. We did see Eva go up to present an award for Weymouth High School. Later in the video she receive...

Photo-A-Day #02616 Today was the sixth performance of The Winter Wolf and I have to say it was probably my best one so far. I didn't mess up a single line (too badly). I did not freeze and forget a line either. Before each show I listen and speak my lines based on the read through that we did. I took the read through and cut it down to just my lines and the lines before mine so that I could practice. I listen to and use that almost every day. Before each performance I put my headphones in and go off somewhere (usually behind the stage) and practice them to make sure that they are fresh in my head before each show.  Today my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Wayne came to see the show. Allison came again to see it and so did my sister Shelby and my niece Kylie. Emma who plays Cora is near Kylie's aga, a little older but she teases me very much like my own niece. I tell her that.  After the performance we went to House of Fortune for an early dinner. Thank you to my Aunt and Uncle for a grea...

Photo-A-Day #02572 The other day when we had a snow day and spent the evening watching The Lord of The Rings Eva and Andy really enjoyed the movie and wanted to continue watching the rest of the movies in the trilogy. Allison was out for the night and the kids decided to have a movie night, just the two of them. they watched The Two Towers, the second movie in the trilogy and plan to watch the third movie tomorrow night. It was really nice to see the two of them enjoying each other's company and a movie together. This afternoon we had a Zoom birthday party for Mem. She and Grandfather are down in Florida and Tara set up the Zoom so we could all get together to wish her a happy birthday.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02568 Today we enjoyed a snow day. We got a about 15 inches of snow overnight and through the day. I finished work and slept for a couple of hours and when I got hup Andy, Allison and Eva had all gone out to shovel to the driveway and try to get over to Joanie's driveway to shovel her out. Luckily her other neighbor had already gone ahead and shoveled her out. I got up around 10:30 and went out and did the snowblower on the sidewalks and our driveway and back patio.  After the snow we had lunch and then played Andy's new board game. It is called Hues and Cues. The point is to describe a color in one or two words and that allows the players to guess which color you are trying to describe. Then players can score points by guessing the correct color or by being close. Andy is great at being able to put color hues together but they did not end up winning the game. That went to me. After the game we decided to watch a movie. At first we were going to watch Spaceball...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02552 Today was Allison's birthday. We celebrated by going to the Colonel Blackinton Inn for dinner. Dinner was taken care of by a Christmas gift card and another gift card that Allison received from school. We had an excellent meal. Andy got adventurous and then realized that they really did not like spinach. Allison got her favorite which was butternut squash ravioli. Eva went with chicken parm and I went with the Wedge salad and short ribs and asparagus. Both Allison and Andy also had French Onion soup. We were seated in one of the small rooms in the back and hard it mostly to ourselves. It was a lovely dinner with good conversation and a chance to celebrate Allison. When we came home we had some cake that was left over from Allison's birthday celebration last night with friend and also some cupcakes that Andy baked last night. It was a nice time.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02539 Our last day on the Cape. We hung out till around noon and then headed home. Lexie has been huirting a bit, she need surgery on her knee and is having a tough time getting up onto the couch, but she has been managing.  We drove home and got settled back in at home. Caught one more mouse and had a couple of traps tripped. Still hearing a bit of scrabbling in the ceiling and walls so I hope those ones make their way down to the basement and are taken care of soon. The gifts that I had ordered for Erik and Tim arrived. While they were actual products and not a total scam I do feel a bit cheated on them. They were supposed to be in nice boxes and they were supposed to be the charred version of these bourbon drinking cups. They came together in just a single bag. Very disappointing. Eva got a call from Mimi, she's taking Eva and Allison to London over February break. Now we have to scramble to get Eva a passport.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02538 Today we went on our annual family bowling trip to Mashpee Commons. We started doing this last year as an activity rather than sitting around the house all day. I did not take the photo so the photo from the even cannot be today's daily photo. But here is the group photo. Who knows, this may be next year's Christmas card photo but we may get a better one this Summer on the beach or something like that. Bowling was a good time. The kids all bowled together. Tara, Erik, Shelby and Tim had their own lane and Allison, Me, Grandfather and Mem also had our own lane. It was a nice time. Always fun family activity. We were treated to another beautiful sunset tonight. I like this photo of all of us the best but Moms eyes are shut. the think I like is that you can actually see Andy, not just their eyes. But as far as eyes, Kylie has a killer Side-eye going on here.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02537 We're down the Cape for a few days to enjoy time with family and celebrate Christmas. Today my sister Shelby and her family came down. All the kids are getting so big. The boys are now taller than Grandfather and the girls are taller than Mem. The boys are so close in height that they are pretty much equal in that respect. Eva still has an inch or so on Kylie. We enjoyed the day,m exchanged gifts and had a nice time together. Andy and Grandfather finished the puzzle first thing in the morning. We took many photos in front of the tree at the end of the day.  The Cousins Shelby's Family with Mem and Grandfather Shelby's Family Mem, Grandfather, Drew, Tara and Shelby Our Family The kids with Auntie Tara and Uncle Erik Tara and Kylie Tara and Erik Me and Allison I was very excited to give my sister and my dad these dog poop bags. I saw them online and knew I had to get them. They are hilarious. I am also so glad I was not scammed. It was a very nice day...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02536 This morning we woke up and had our family Christmas with cinnamon rolls, presents and opening of stockings. We hung around the house enjoying each other's company and exchanging gifts for a while. The big family gift was to go see Weird Al Yankovic in July. Allison got me tickets to the GenX takeover tour and tickets for she and Eva to see Wicked. It was a nice morning.  I'm sort of in charge of the stockings and I picked up a ton of stuff for everyone else at Aldi this year. Lots of interesting sweets. For myself I found some World's Smallest Transformers, G.I.Joe and He-Man figures. They were cool because they each came with a super tiny version of the original comic books from 1984. I ended up with Issues 2 and 3 of Transformers and Issue #1 of G.I. JOE. I am tempted to see if the Target had any more so I could get issue #1. Today is when Allison and the kids actually saw with the house now looks like after the yard was cleared of a couple of tree...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02535 Today is Christmas Eve. We are all off of school and finishing up last minute things for the holiday. Allison made her chicken soup for dinner and we went to 4pm Mass for the holiday. We got the yearly photo of the kids in front of the nativity scene. After Mass we drove home quickly to get bundled up for a walk around La Salette to see the lights. It was frigid cold out and we had to basically speed walk around the place. No stopping at the Nativity Scene Museum today, Allison had gone earlier in the week with her friend Jenn.  We made one lap and headed home for some hot chicken stew. The big pile of tree trunks from our trees were picked up this morning. A guy came with a truck with a giant grabber arm and he vey efficiently picked through the logs and put them onto his truck. He must have an amazing sense of space because they fit on that truck very well. We all watched. After dinner we watched a movie. We watched many Christmas movies this year. I'm not ...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02528 Tonight at dinner Eva let us know that she had a decision email in her inbox from MassArt and she wanted to open it with us around her!. She was accepted for the 2026-2027 school year! We are very excited and happy for her because this is Eva's first choice for school and she has been eagerly awaiting the decision. Now, her stress is over.  Mine begins. Se did get $1000 a year in an award right off the bat so that is great to hear. Now we just work on the financial aid stuff. And preparing ourselves for her eventual departure from the house. Don't want to think about that yet.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02518 Today we went to see the Feehan production of Matilda. Eva was the costume lead for the show and her hard work was on display throughout the performance. Her major piece was a dress for Mrs. Wormwood. She worked so hard to make that dress. I really hope that her efforts are recognized in the MetG awards again. It would be amazing if she won. But I think that every time she creates something it is prize worthy.  The show as a lot of fun and the set was incredible. Myles, the stage manager, was also the set designer and used the original plans for the set from the original performance to create the set for Feehan. He even made a scale model of the set and that was on display after the show. It was so detailed and cool. Mom and Dad came along with Auntie Tara and Auntie Shelby. Aunt Donna was there along with Ellen Gustafson and Aunt Cindy, Uncle Wayne, Scott, Beth and Abby were also there. 

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02515 We put our tree up the other day and I had already bought the 2025 Hallmark Keepsake ornament for our yearly family photo ornament. I love these ornaments on the tree. We have them from 2005 to now.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02509 For the day after Thanksgiving we lost no time getting the Christmas stuff up and put all over the house. Both trees came up from the basement and were put up in their respective places, front porch and living room. The living room one has light on it but no decorations. the outside one is all lit and decorated. Andy and I also hauled up all the Christmas boxes. We had lunch and gave the kids their yearly ornament. Andy got a D20 die and Eva a sewing machine.  After lunch we watched Big Hero 6. Andy had been wanting to watch this one for a while so we all sat and watched together. Such a good movie. I remember that Big Hero 6 was one of the movies I saw at Disney Studios and got to interview the creators.  I then took a nap before work and Andy started a project. Andy decided that they would like to make some aged paper. So Andy had a bunch of paper on the kitchen island. Andy also wants to get some wax to make wax seals. I think this is for a D&D pr...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02508 Today was Thanksgiving. We had a great time with our family enjoying a great meal and time together. Last night we kicked off Thanksgiving by watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The kids enjoyed it and I really liked seeing it again especially after watching "I Like Me" the John Candy documentary. After our dinner we had some time to relax. I showed Mom and Dad Eugene Levy's show "The Reluctant Traveller". Dad and Mom got a kick out of it like I thought that they would. The show is really fun for everyone.  Each thanksgiving Allison gets the kids come sparkling cider. The kids get fancy and put it in our very fancy wine glasses. They end up toasting repeatedly as they refill their drinks. It is very cute of them to do it. We got some family photos after dinner and before dessert. Dinner was from Firefly's and it was a really good one. We got a turkey breast and a couple of pints of brisket. Then we got mashed potatoes, corn, sweet...