BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02542 This afternoon and into tonight we went to the Salem Cross Inn for one of their Fireside feasts. This was the last one of the year and a celebration of the New Year.  We arrived and went to the basement of the building where they have this giant fireplace and there is an antique roasting jack, the only one still in use. There are 6 prime ribs roasting in the fire. They had started the roasting around 2pm. This location was the gathering place for everyone before going upstairs to enjoy the feast. There is a bit of theater to have before that. The kids were dressed warmly and nicely for the occasion.  We had to dress warm because we would be on a sleigh ride around the property.  I even pulled out my very heavy sweater for the occasion.  The horses that drew our sleigh were Jerry and Jim. We posed with them after the ride. They gave us either Mulled Cider or Mulled Wine to enjoy. They did the mulling with rods from the fire. It was cool to watch...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02541 Before I get into what I am printing on the 3D printer we are now on day two of passport scramble. At 12:45 we headed over to the post office for our appointment for Eva and Andy's passports. We got there and there was a line so I got in and when I got up to the line and the person ahead of me was done I let them know that I was there for my passport and was told that the people ahead of me had to go next. So why make an appointment? While in line we heard one of the post office people say that the form had to be done in black ink. We did ours in Blue at Triple AAA. We failed to read the top line of the form. So, I get two new forms and I fil out Andy's while Allison filled out Eva's. We get up tot eh line for our turn and it is a new person who immediately looks at the form and says that it is the wrong form. but we just got it there in the post office. The other person who had given me the forms gave me the 2020 forms not the 2025 forms. There are l...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02540 Ever since we learned, yesterday, that Eva and Allison are going on a trip with Mimi I've been scrambling to get things set up for Eva's passport. I know I should have done this the moment the orange tyrant took office but I did not. So now here we are. Triple AAA does the passport photos for free so we went there to get the photos and the applications needed to get the passports. We decided that we might as well get one for Andy, too.  I read everything online I could about what we needed for the applications. Eva has a MA ID so that is all she needed along with birth certificate. Andy would need birth certificate plus my license and Allison;s license. I read that they needed photocopies so I made them of everything. After Triple AAA we went over to the Attleboro post office to do the rest of the steps. While walking in I saw that you needed an appointment for a passport so I made one for later in the day and we went for lunch at Mac and Walt's. Lunc...

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...