Tag Archives: BenSpark Family Adventures

Rides, Travel

I’m Trading my Kia Forte for a New Kia Stinger! #StingerIsHere

2018 Kia Stinger
Photo Credit: Kia

Okay, so maybe the title is a bit misleading. I am trading my Kia Forte for a Kia Stinger, but only for a day. Kia is sending me to North Hollywood on an all expenses paid trip to drive the new Kia Stinger. I assure you that everything I talk about regarding the experience will be 100% my own opinion.

There is a real 70’s vibe around this trip. We are going to be heading to NoHo or North Hollywood, California where we will be staying at The Beverly Garland Hotel, or The Garland for short. I’m very excited to stay here because the photos look incredible and it has a super cool vibe on the website. Take a look at the interior of the lobby.

Beverly Garland Hotel Interior Lobby
Photo Credit: The Garland hotel

It is like a time capsule of the 70’s but all the best parts. The rest of the photos of the grounds are also very cool and I am looking forward to exploring.

Apparently, the hotel is right around the corner from the home that served as the facade of the Brady Bunch house. You know that building that in no way looked like the interior of the Brady home but it was the house that was the shot that was used every episode. I’m excited to see it. I watched The Brady Bunch every day as a little kid. But that house is within walking distance of the hotel. The Kia Stinger is meant to be driven and that is just what we are going to do!

2018 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
Photo Credit: Kia

We are going to be driving the Kia Stinger through the mountainous Angeles National Forest. I cannot wait to drive this car, either. The first time I saw this car I was incredible excited. This is a beautiful vehicle. It has beautiful lines and conjures up feelings of muscle and speed. The front of the car has an aggressive look and the overall lines of the car are clean and strong. I’m hoping to get some amazing photos of this car. That is one of my main goals, to get an eye-popping photo of this car along our driving route. This is a car begging to be photographed. I don’t know a whole lot more about the car yet and so can’t speak to all the amenities, I’ll save that for when I experience them myself. but what I can say is that I’m thrilled to be a part of the Kia experience.

2018 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
Photo Credit: Kia

There are two waves of this trip and I am in the second wave. My ride partner is Tessa from Mama’s Geeky so you’ll see a lot of social stuff from the both of us. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @BenSpark. I’ll try and do some Facebook live and maybe some other video, I’ll definitely get a photo by the Brady Bunch house and look forward to lots of photos of the Kia Stinger. Follow the hashtag #StingerIsHere on twitter starting today 11/13 because Wave 1 begins today and keep following all week long for lots of great information on the Kia Stinger.

2018 Kia Stinger GT2 RWD
Photo Credit: Kia

Photo-A-Day, Toys

Give it Forward: Christmas is For Kids 2017 Donation

Christmas is for Kids 2017 Donation
Photo-A-Day #4594

These are toys that we received from various toy companies for free. Opinions are our own. Amazon.com affiliate links are withing the post.

Back in 2008 we began a Christmas tradition. That year a friend of mine was having a toy drive for Christmas is for Kids, a local charity that collects toys for the area children. That first year we donated a couple of toys but then we decided that each year we would put aside some money each month so that we could make a decent toy purchase at the end of the year. That way we could give a good sized donation. Fast forward to today and we’ve been making larger and larger donations because of the work that we do through this blog. From contests to conferences and everything in between there are many toy companies that have been providing us toys each year and we give the overflow to Christmas is for Kids.

Early on Allison and I decided to involve the kids in our toy buying. We wanted to show them, from an early age that they can help people less fortunate. You may not change the world for everyone but you can start locally and help those in your immediate environment. My kids have never had any want for toys especially because of this blog. Involving Eva and Andrew in the process of selecting toys for other children is very important. This year they were fantastic in the store. Not once did they ask for any toys for themselves. The hardest thing was saying no when they choose expensive toys. I had to keep explaining that the higher the cost of the toy the less toys we could buy to help out the kids. I think we also had some lessons in math and estimating and rounding and more and also understanding how much prices are for toys came in to play as well. Andrew wanted to get a toy and thought that it was $6 but was actually $64. It gave me a chance to talk money with him.

We also recorded a video thanking many of the toy companies for sending us toys to review and some that we were not able to review but instead added to our gift donation. I wanted to recognize them here. You can see the video below. And below that a bit about the toys.

Continue reading Give it Forward: Christmas is For Kids 2017 Donation →