Monthly Archives: March 2014

Children’s Books Reading Goal: Update 4

I’ve been slacking. This goal is definitely going to take a while.

Goal Books I’ve Read

The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs, by Betty G. Birney (small town, stories, juvenile)

Eben longs to explore all the exotic places around the world and get away from his boring town. His father makes him a deal that if he can find “seven wonders” in Sassafras Springs, he can go to Colorado to visit his relatives. Eben doesn’t believe that Sassafras Springs has any wonders but starts looking in hopes of escaping his town.

I enjoyed this book. Eben learns to appreciate his town and the people within it. I’ve requested the audiobook version because I think it’d be a good one for Calvin to listen to.

Hoop Girlz, by Jane Lucy Bledsoe (basketball, girls, commitment, juvenile)

River loves playing basketball and dreams of playing in the WNBA. However, when the “A team” is chosen, River doesn’t make the cut and is devastated. Instead, she has to learn to commit to making the “B team” as good as it can be

This book didn’t really grab me but I think if I was a girl that loved basketball, I would have loved this book. I could be wrong but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of fiction around girls playing sports.

My Last Best Friend, by Julie Bowe (Juvenile, girls, bullies, friends)
Ida’s best friend has moved away and she’s heartbroken. She decides it’s too painful to make friends when they just end up leaving. It doesn’t help that the room’s bully seems to have a personal vendetta against Ida. However, a new girl arrives who is (amazingly) persistent at trying to become Ida’s friend.

More juvenile than I’d choose to read but a good story for that age range. Discusses several issues around friends, bullies, and lying to sound good.

Storm Catchers, by Tim Bowler (teen, family, secrets, kidnapping, ghosts)
Ella is kidnapped one night when she’s babysitting her 3-year-old brother. Her older brother was suppose to stay but left to hang out with friends. As a result, he blames himself for her disappearance. In addition, the younger brother is acting very odd and keeps leaving the house unattended.

This was my least favorite of the ones I’ve read recently. It was a good story but ghosts in a context other than fantasy freak me out. I’m going to blame it on my upbringing but I like ghost stories to stay firmly in fantastical settings. All that being said, there were a lot of interesting themes that the story dealt with.

Reading Goal: 19 of 180

Shanahan Ridge Park, Boulder, CO

Please note this post was created in 2014 and may contain outdated information.

The weather was marvelous today. I spent the morning working on money but after lunch Calvin and I went thrift store shopping and then stopped by Boulder’s southernmost park, Shanahan Ridge Park. The Shanahan Park Page, on Boulder’s site, said the park was “small” but I didn’t understand how small till we got there. The picture below shows you most of the park.

01Shanahan

Parking turned out to be quite tricky. In addition, Google maps took me a couple blocks past the park and into an apartment complex. I followed Google’s directions hoping it knew about a parking lot I didn’t but, alas, it was just confused. I backtracked and decided the road next to the park was too narrow to park on the street. Eventually, I parked on Smuggler Way which had a path to the park.

As I stated above, the park is really small. However, it did have a very unusual feature: a human sundial1.

Human Sun Dial: Stand along the centerline opposite the current day of the year with your arm raised above your head. Your shadow will point to the current time. *Tempis Fugit*

Human Sun Dial: Stand along the centerline opposite the current day of the year with your arm raised above your head. Your shadow will point to the current time. *Tempis Fugit*

Hours are arced around the the sundial:

03SundialTimes

I had Calvin try it out but I think a taller person would have worked better. It seemed roughly accurate, within an hour or so2.

04CalvinSunDial

The sundial amused me a lot more than Calvin. However, even though the park is really small Calvin had a blast running up and down the slide area. When I looked at the city’s picture of the park, I thought the slide had asphalt on either side but it turned out to be poured rubber.

05Slides

They also had a random hole that kids could run through.

06Hole

Lastly, the park did have two regular swings and one bucket swing. Even though the park is small, it was completely overrun with kids so Calvin had to make do with the bucket swing.

07swing

It was a really interesting park to visit. The parking’s horrible but it was a fun visit.

Summary:

Features Straight slide, bumpy slide, climbing rocks, hole, sun dial, swings, bucket swing, stairs to nowhere
Surface Material Poured Rubber
Restrooms No
Water fountain No
Shade No
Picnic area No
Parking Horrible parking options. Try parking on Smuggler Way and then walking.
Pros
  • Seems very popular with kids.
  • Human sundial!
Cons
  • No restrooms
  • Bad parking options
  • Really small


View Random Parks and Playgrounds in a larger map

  1. As an aside, does anyone know Latin? Google is giving me the definite impression that “Tempis Fugit” should really be “Tempus Fugit.” ↩
  2. I didn’t see any notation of when it assumes daylight savings time starts ↩

Children’s Books Reading Goal: Update 3

Well, I made it through 3 books this week. I actually thought I had done four. However, it was only after finishing Lost in Bermooda that I realized it wasn’t one of my goal books. I must have checked it out for Calvin (?).

Goal Books I’ve Read

Hope was Here, by Joan Bauer (young adult, politics, family)

Hope and her aunt are moving to Wisconsin to try to start fresh after being betrayed. Addie, Hope’s aunt, takes over the job of cook from a dying man while Hope waitresses for the diner. Hope misses the exciting life of New York but gradually the little town becomes her home.

This was a really good book. It has all sorts of themes that may be relevant to a teen: rejection, family, growing up, relationships, adversity.

Peeled, by Joan Bauer (young adult, fear, newspapers)

Another great book featuring a female protagonist by Bauer. Hildy is a high school reporter who is trying to follow in her deceased father’s footsteps. She loves her small town but there have been rumors of malicious ghosts near the old Ludlow House. The town is whipped into a panic, helped by the town’s official newspaper, and Hildy is determined to get to the bottom of the situation.

The Double-Digit Club, by Marion Dane Bauer (Juvenile, girls, cliques, conflict resolution)

At the beginning of the school year Valerie created the “Double-Digit Club”. It’s for “any” girl that is ten or older. At the time, Valerie was the only ten-year-old in the class so it was a club of one. However, one-by-one the other girls turn ten until only Sarah and Paige are excluded. Sarah and Paige have vowed not to join the double-digit club and stay friends but things don’t go the way they envisioned.

This was a harder book for more to get through. It’s probably because it’s aimed at the juvenile audience. Probably a good book for juvenile girls but not one of my favorites reads as an adult.

Reading Goal: 14 of 180

Meadow Glen Park, Boulder, CO

Please note this post was created in 2014 and may contain outdated information.

I signed Calvin to participate in a study on Monday at the Cognitive Development Center but we had about an hour after preschool before we needed to be there. Monday turned out to be remarkably warm, for winter, so I decided we should visit a park first. I went to City of Boulder’s playground list and decided to try out Meadow Glen Park.

01MeadowGlen

Meadow Glen Park is a neighborhood park. It’s a nice park to walk to if you live in the neighborhood. However, unless you’re specifically trying to tour all Boulder parks, it’s not a park you would normally drive out of your way for. It has all the basics but not much else. Calvin’s favorite piece of equipment was the Vertical Pipe Climbers:

02Climber

In the picture above, you’ll also see there’s a red playhouse-type structure. I’m not sure what it is suppose to be called officially. It’s bigger than the normal playground playhouses. Outside, along either side, there’s a bench that can be sat on. Inside, there’s a fair amount of space and a couple small seats that kids can perch on.

03Playhouse

One of the other unique features of this park is it has a sun dial. It seemed accurate to within a 1/2 hr or so.

04Sundial

The playground also feature several swings and traditional-style playground equipment. Unfortunately, the spiral slide was roped off with a note that it needed to be fixed.

05Playground

The park backs up to City of Boulder open space on two sides. It’s not as scenic as Foothills Community Park but is still very relaxing. In addition to playground equipment there’s a small basketball court and the park connects to a path that runs beside the Empson Ditch. Once Calvin got bored with the playground he challenged me to several “races” across the bridge that spans the ditch.

06Bridge

I don’t think we’ll go back to this park, we still have a lot of parks left to explore. However, it did provide a nice break in the day.

Summary:

Features 5-12 year old equipment, spiral slide (currently broken), playhouse, swings, bucket swing, sun dial, verticle pipe climber, horse spring riders, steering wheel, storefront panel, bubble panel, Corkscrew Climber, Loop Arch Climber, chinning bar,
Surface Material Mostly pea gravel. Some poured rubber.
Restrooms No
Water fountain No
Shade Most of the playground is unshaded. Playhouse provides shade as do some mature trees on the west side.
Picnic area picnic table (no shade)
Parking Streets parking and then a short walk
Pros
  • Peaceful, backs up to open space
  • Neighborhood park so it’s not going to be over-run with people
  • Interesting playhouse
Cons
  • No restrooms


View Random Parks and Playgrounds in a larger map

Children’s Books Reading Goal: Update 2

This week was a fairly bad week for goal books. I only got through two books.

Goal Books I’ve Read

The Secret School, by Avi (Juvenile Historical Fiction)

I haven’t read a lot but so far every Avi book I’ve read has been good. In this one Ida is an eighth grade student who has a goal of going to high school and becoming a teacher. Unfortunately, her teacher has to quit toward the end of the year and the school board is too cheap to hire a replacement teacher. So, Ida decides to teach everyone herself so she will be able to take the high school placement exam and still go to high school. It’s a good story.

Traitor’s Gate, by Avi (Juvenile Historical Mystery Fiction)

Can you tell I’m reading alphabetically by author? This book was also a juvenile historical fiction but set further back in history, around the time of Dickens. In addition, it’s still a juvenile book but I’d say it’s for a slightly older audience. It’s a coming of age story where a boy starts learning that his father isn’t perfect and makes mistakes, sometimes mistakes with dire consequences.

Reading Goal: 11 of 180