BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01542 I took this using screenshot mode on my XBox and so it is a photo I technically took. There was an open beta for Diablo IV on XBox and I created myself an avatar that looked as close as I could make it look to me, if I was a shape shifting giant druid. There are a few character types to choose from and I chose the Druid specifically because they can use magic and also become a bear or a werewolf. The druid can also have a pair of wolves with them to fight all the crazy enemies that home their way. The game is fun to play, I played the original Diablo and Diablo II way back when but now it is much more detailed and the gameplay is rather fun. A good change of pace from Fortnite. I’m not sure if I will continue past the beta since the game itself is $100.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01541 Our friend Wes Molebash published a new book and Allison pre-ordered it for Andy. I went over to An Unlikely Story to pick up the book and I ended up reading the whole thing before I even gave it to Andy to read. The book is very good with Wes’ amazing artwork and his sense of humor spread throughout. I made sure to snap a photo outside of the store so that we could send it to Wes. It would be great if he could come up here and do a book signing and maybe an interview with Jeff Kinney. I also took a photo of the display inside where the book was out for everyone to buy. I hope that it does well and am looking forward to the next one. Tonight we had Krav graduation and both kids were able to move up to new belts. Andy did not have to make up the test that he missed on Tuesday and that is because of the level that he is at. He is definitely ready to advance. Eva had to redo the gun defenses after the graduation in order to be promoted. This I also understand ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01540 Allison and Eva were out seeing the play, Hadestown tonight so I took Andy to Bliss for dinner. Bliss was his choice, mostly because they wanted ice cream. Andy also initially asked about the build a burger but I put a kibosh on that because I wasn’t going for a $27 burger. We both got bliss specials and I explained to Andy how you can ask for certain things to not be on the burger and also ask for others. We also discussed how to have them cooked, too. After our burgers we also enjoyed some sundaes. Andy did show some restraint in that he stopped when he was full and we took the rest of the ice cream home so that he could enjoy it tomorrow. Allison and Eva had a great time at the play. This was Eva’s favorite one so far and she was super excited when she got home.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01539 Today was stripe test for me and for Eva. Andy came home sick from school so he could not go to class today. He’ll have to make up his stripe test before graduation. I had my stripe test this morning and it was tough. We did a lot of drills and in one of the drills my partner drilled me right in the face. Luckily I just got a couple of scratches that don’t look that bad right now. I didn’t even notice them until I was about to shave and wen I looked in the mirror I was wondering why my eye kind of hurt and where I had gotten the scratches. Then I remembered the stripe test and Dave catching me pretty good on one technique. We are usually very controlled and careful. We’ve been working together a lot lately, too. He’s much faster than me, though. Eva had her stripe test in the afternoon and in the end she got half a stripe because she had to work on her gun defenses. She did a few things that would get you dropped from a Black Belt test immediately. I know w...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01538 Apparently Torrun is annoyed. She is not the most affectionate cat in the world but when she wants to be pet she is relentless. She will not be stopped or put off. She bumps her head into your hand so that you pet her and then whips it away when she’s had enough. She must have wanted us to pet her tonight because she came and sat on Allison’s lap, which she never does.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01537 Andy spent the day putting the finishing touches on several batches of cupcakes. Andy made two kinds of cupcakes for his class. There are chocolate cupcakes that are decorated with a leprechaun hat and bunny cupcakes that are vanilla but the color of the cake is orange because of some food coloring added. Andy even melted chocolates to design gold buckles for the hats. Marshmallow halves are being used for the ears. Andy also emailed their teachers and the school nurse for permission to bring the cupcakes to school. Now we had to go over the timeline of how this should go in the future. As with most things Andy the plan comes after the execution.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01536 It is Saturday and I am back to the office. This is mandatory for my shift despite every single thing that we do can be done remotely. It is more of the usually top down decrees from our upper management who care little for the employees. Supposedly their argument is that people are much more productive in the office and that cannot be further from the truth, especially in this office. I got here, set up my desk for the night and started working on things for later in the night and tomorrow morning. For the first hour there was one guy who came in and talked loudly and non-stop for that entire hour. I couldn’t take it anymore so I packed up everything and moved to the complete opposite side of the building. There is no legitimate point to being in the office but we have to do it once a weekend. This morning I went to the Saturday morning Krav Class. Miss Jen is our instructor for the weekend and we had a shortened class because there was the tournament toda...