Holiday Park, Boulder, CO

Please note this post was created in 2013 and may contain outdated information.

While visiting the Reading in Spires Little Library, Calvin wandered over to play at the playground equipment. This park had almost nothing indicating its name or purpose. However, based on the a sign advertising “movies in the park”, I eventually decided it must be a Holiday HOA created park. Unlike our HOA, there were no nasty signs telling non-residents to leave immediately¹.

The playground isn’t large but has a nice selection of things to climb.

Kompan “Triple Shifter”

They had several large rock-like sculptures that I thought Calvin would enjoy climbing. However, we mostly hid under the larger one avoiding the rain.

The plaque on one of the rocks says it’s by Monolithic Sculpture Inc. This appears to have been a Boulder company at one point.

Landscape Structures “SpringRing Bouncer”

We didn’t spend a huge amount of time at this park. However, that was mainly because I wanted to go see the next little library. Calvin probably would have had fun for another half hour if I had let him.

As we were walking back to the car, I noticed one of the surrounding buildings is guarded by gargoyles.

Summary:

Features	climbing structures, ring bouncer, pretend megaphone, pretend binoculars, stairs to nowhere
Surface Material	poured rubber
Restrooms	No restrooms :(
Water fountain	None
Shade	Very little. Eventually some of the trees may grow tall enough to provide shade. The largest rock allows some huddling under.
Picnic area	There are a couple of picnic tables
Pros	Interesting things to climb on
Cons	No bathrooms of any kind.

View Random Parks and Playgrounds in a larger map

Our HOA probably does it for safety reasons . . . or something. Personally, the more kids there are in the park, the happier I am because Calvin will play with them instead of asking me to play with him. ↩

NoBo Little Libraries

Boulder has a library problem. Truthfully, I probably shouldn’t complain too much but it really irks me the city hasn’t managed to build a library anywhere north of Mapleton ¹. I keep meaning to write the city and library to complain but every letter I’ve written so far sounds completely overwrought. The good news is I’m privileged enough to a) ferry my son to libraries that aren’t near us and b) buy him gobs of books. So at least my son isn’t being deprived of books.

What I really miss is a convenient place to take Calvin when he is driving me nuts. The Longmont Public Library was so close to our old house we could just wander over on a whim. I tried our local Barnes and Noble for a bit but it didn’t work out. It seems fair that I buy a book or two to pay for using them. So, if Calvin had become enamored with books there, I might have gone more often. However, they’re also a toy shop these days and I was not impressed by the whining Calvin engaged in when he wanted me to buy Thomas the Train paraphernalia. When I take Calvin to the library, there’s no commercial aspect so the only whining I hear is when I tell him it’s time to leave.

During one of my attempts to write a calm and reasoned letter to city council, I search the Daily Camera to double check they hadn’t decided to build a library in northern Boulder while I wasn’t looking. They hadn’t. However, I did find a post about the NoBo Art District supporting little libraries. I decided to take a field trip and check out the two little libraries in North Boulder².

The first little library Calvin and I visited was the Reading In Spires sculpture located at 14th Street and Yellow Pine Avenue. This is also the location of Holiday Park, which I believe is a HOA supported community park. Many Little Free Libraries look like little houses or school buildings. However, the NoBo Little Libraries are much more whimsical.

As you can see, there are three spires and each spire has a door with shelving inside for books.

Unfortunately, there weren’t many children’s books available so Calvin wasn’t really interested in it once the novelty wore off. He was much more interested in the park equipment.

I let Calvin play on the Holiday Park playground equipment for a while and then we went off in search of the second Little Library. This one was harder to find. The NoBo Art website said it was ” installed on the plaza adjacent to Lucky’s Market at 3960 Broadway in Boulder, Colorado.” Having never been to Lucky’s Market before, Calvin and I wandered around for a bit mystified till we finally found it on the eastern side of the store.

This Little Library is titled The Rocket Man.

Calvin seemed to like this one better both because it was a rocket but also it contained a fair number of children’s books.

I feel slightly torn about these little libraries. On one hand, it never hurts to have more ways to get books. However, they’re never go to have the breadth of a full-size library. When Calvin and I go to the library we walk out with stacks and stacks of books. That’s not something you can do with a little library. The little libraries are cute but the northern Boulder areas still needs a real library.

I use to say north of Canyon but technically the local history library branch is on Pine so that’s not quite accurate. ↩
For those unfamiliar with Boulder, I live in Gunbarrel, which is in the northeastern part of Boulder but is not considered “North Boulder.” Gunbarrel and North Boulder are separated by a fairly wide swath of non-thru roads. ↩

Reading Goal: Update 10

I had a fantastic day at the thrift store yesterday. I got most of the pieces for a Lego Transport Truck set and a Lightning McQueen set¹ all for under $5. In addition, I ended up with 16 books!

Someone was getting rid of their Roald Dahl Collection so I ended up with 11 books by Dahl. I actually already had 2 copies of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and one copy of The BFG already. However, these all matched nicely and were the UK edition which, since Dahl is from the UK, seemed appropriate². In addition, I got two Newbery Medal winners, a sequel to a Newbery winner, another random sequel, and then the “new” The New Way Things Work.

Books I’ve finished recently:

Poetry: Love Poems, by Nikki Giovanni – Ok, poetry is hard for me to appreciate. In addition, I felt there was a lot of history I was lacking to understand this collection. Nikki Giovanni is a Black American who imbues her poetry with a lot of her fight for civil rights and equality. I think I need to do more reading to really start understanding some of the poems. That being said, I really did like her poem titled “There is no reason to ask.” It talks about the uselessness of trying to find reason in actions that can’t be understood³.
Mystery: The Crossing Places, by Ruth Galloway – A good mystery with an archaeologist as the protagonist. For the most part I liked it but there was a personal element that made me a bit uneasy. I’m still deciding if I’ll read the next in the series.
Young Adult Fantasy: The Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson – This was a very interesting novel. I liked that the protagonist wasn’t very self-confident and every one around her seemed to feel it was justified. I can think of a lot of YA novels where the heroine starts out being marginalized by society but has a lot of inner confidence. I found it really interesting to Elisa’s growth.
Young Adult Fantasy: Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo – Yet another young adult fantasy but I’m having good luck with them recently. This was another good one, though a bit on the dark side sometimes. Alina, the protagonist, is ordinary and wants to stay that way so she can stay close to her childhood friend. However, when they’re threatened her true nature asserts itself and she’s saves the day. Unfortunately, this brings her to the notice of powerful people who want to use her to further their agenda. Part of the book resolves by the end but it’s definitely meant to have a sequel (which happens to be sitting on my shelf now ready to be read).
Regency Romance: Keeping the Castle, by Patrice Kindl – This was a charming read. I label it a regency romance but it feels a little more traditional than most of the romances are these days. I can’t explain the difference but it was a nice read.
Paranormal (but not romance) Fantasy: This Case is Gonna Kill Me, by Phillipa Bornikova – Reviews on Amazon are mixed but I liked this novel a lot. It’s set in modern day world where vampires, among others, exist. Apparently most of the prominent law firms are run by vampires and Linnet, the protagonist, is lucky to be employed in one. Unfortunately, one of the partners doesn’t like her and so she gets assigned to a very low profile case, which turns out to not be quite so low profile after all. If you’re hoping for a romance, this is a deep disappointment. However, I enjoyed the story. It did have one thread that was very obviously left untied, presumably for a sequel. Since I wasn’t particularly invested in that thread, it didn’t bother me.
Realistic/General Fiction: The School of Essential Ingredients, by Erica Bauermeister. This was a charming read that I easily finished in one night after supper. I don’t remember why I picked it up but it feels a little like some of Sarah Addison Allen’s books.
Juvenile Fiction: Fatapoufs and Thinifers, by Andre Maurois – I ran across this book on Gail Carriger’s Blog, she of the Parasol Protectorate series. I’m always looking for good chapter books for Calvin that aren’t too mature for a four-year-old. I’ve found that more classics fit this bill than contemporary books. Anyway, it’s out of print at the moment but I hunted it down and found a copy at the University of Colorado which I was able to get via Prospector. I was excited but was not expecting the fairly fragile item I received. I quickly decided this was not something I could have around a child and instead read it to myself so I would know if I should pick up any used copies I stumbled across. Ms. Carriger said it reminded her a bit of The Phantom Tollbooth, which Calvin enjoys even though he can’t possibly understand most of it. It does have some of the same type of humor and absurd situations in it but the book isn’t as complicated. If I see a copy handy somewhere I’ll definitely grab it up for Calvin.
General Fiction/Mystery: The Heist, by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg – This was an audio book listen. It was ok.
Fantasy: Witch, by Marie Brennan – I borrowed this from Anya and felt it was a slightly stronger book than the first one in the series. However, that might just have been personal preference.
Young Adult Fantasy: Finnikin of the Rock, by Melina Marchetta – This was a very good young adult fantasy. I had been resisting for a long time because of the title, which sounded corny to me. However, after reading the book, the title makes sense. Anyway, it follows a male protagonist⁴ who is an exile from a kingdom that has been cursed. He ends up being saddled with a mouthy girl from a convent. I liked this book because it had a lot of commentary about how people treat each other and mistakes people make that they later regret. Many parts of the book were depressing but it had a good ending.
Romance: The Arrangement, by Mary Balogh – This was a book I got via LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program. It was a good read. Mary Balogh writes well and it was interesting having a hero that was blind. So, a good book but probably not one I’ll re-read because I prefer more sparkly banter in my romances.
Juvenile Fiction: The Willoughbys, by Lois Lowry – This was my most recent audio book. It is a tongue-in-cheek story about “old-fashioned” children growing up in modern times. It was really fun. A good story for Calvin to read when he gets older.

Currently Reading:
I just finished all my books and might get the chance to start another one tonight, if I ever finish this post.

Current Goal Counts:

Category	Goal	Number Read
Best Sellers	2	2
Biography, Autobiography, Memoir	2	2
Fiction Books Jaeger Recommends	2	1
Christian Fiction	2	2
Graphic Novels	2	2
Historical Fiction	2	1
Informational	2	2
Juvenile Books	12	10
Literature	2	1
Mystery	2	2
Poetry Anthologies	2	2
Realistic Fiction	2	2
Short Story Anthologies	2	2
Total	36	31

We ended up being very, very lucky. The there were 3 Lego boxes that were all taped shut. I got these two but declined one that I think was from the Hero Factory line of products. I know it’s snooty of me but I have trouble thinking of these as “real” Legos. Anyway, it turns out I should have bought it because I ended up with pieces from it anyway and that box might have had one or two pieces for our set. In addition I ended up with a couple pieces of the Tripod Invader. We ended up pretty lucky because the pieces we are missing are fairly generic and if I scrounge we probably have replacements with existing Legos. However, I went back to the Thrift Store anyway intending to buy the other set. However, someone else had already bought it. I feel bad for them because based on what we have, there’s no way they can even approximate what it’s suppose to be. Thus is the luck of the thrift store shopper. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose . . . ↩
I still don’t understand why publishers feel the need to “Americanize” English in US editions. ↩
Well, at least that’s what I took from it. Given it’s poetry there could be a swath of meanings that I’m missing. ↩
Look, I’m reading a book about a boy. I really need to get over my hang-up with male protagonists at some point. ↩

On Dying

Out of the blue at supper this evening Calvin said, “if you and daddy died I would be all alone.” This was not a topic I expected to discuss at supper. However, I recovered (hopefully quickly) and told him that he wouldn’t be alone if we died because daddy and I had made a plan. If daddy and I died, he would go live with Uncle Yanthor and Aunt Anya. Then Calvin backed up and wondered how he could get to Uncle Yanthor and Aunt Anya’s house. I told him we had a plan for that too and Grandma Judi and Grandma and Nana would make sure to take care of him while everything was getting sorted out.

Calvin seemed to find this scenario very interesting¹ and hopefully (?) started listing off the different ways Jaeger and I could die. He finally decided that a car crash was the most likely². He then worried that he might be in the car with us when we have our accident. At that point I decided to talk about seat belt safety and pointed out we wear our seat belts to lessen the chance we would die in an accident. Then he started talking about chicken pox and we delved into vaccines and measles.

All-in-all it was a very strange conversation. At least Jaeger and I have an obvious plan that I could tell him about.

I think he had visions of playing with Uncle Yanthor all day every day. ↩
Given our ages and currently known health status, I suppose this could be the most likely cause of death in the moderately near future. ↩

Hard Drive Adventures

While Jaeger was gone with Calvin to NYC Anna, my kitchen computer, started rebooting randomly. The first couple times I thought it was coincidence. Then it started doing it multiple times per day.

Given that Anna is located in the kitchen next to my mixer, I thought it was possible she was just clogged up with cat hair, flour, and grease. So once Jaeger returned he took her apart. There was definitely dust but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I expected. Unfortunately, that left the most likely problem as the hard drive. I did some testing and verified that the hard drive was beginning to fail.

I briefly contemplated whether or not it made sense to just replace Anna. At this point, I think tablets are to the point where they’d meet most of my kitchen computer needs. Unfortunately, that’d leave me without a handy Windows computer to sync my iPod and iPad¹. Weighing the pros and cons I decided it was probably best to just replace the hard drive and hope the rest of her lasts until we move overseas².

I decided fairly quickly that I wanted an SSD. I figured the fewer moving parts the better. After a couple weeks of lazy researching, I decided to get a Samsung 500 GB SSD. I ordered from Amazon because I currently have a trial prime membership³ and I could get it delivered in two business days. Jaeger left for San Diego Monday evening but handed over an external hard drive I could use to back up the important parts of Anna.

Tuesday my shiny new SSD arrived. I was ready to have my computer back and already had everything taken apart by the time UPS showed up. Calvin was really excited because I didn’t want him anywhere near the disassembled computer so he got to watch TV. I knew it would be small but I didn’t visualize how small it would be. The SSD is on the bottom right, next to my iPhone. The original drive is in the upper left corner.

I had also purchased a 3.5″ to 2.5″ converter bay and merrily set to screwing everything together. Then I realized I had a problem. Anna’s hard drive cable was just long enough to hook into the large older hard drive. The new drive, when screwed into it’s bay, was about an inch further away. The cable could not reach. I sat and stared at the cable and the hard drive and the converter bay. I reconfigured things multiple times knowing that it was no good but hoping I could come up with a kludge that would work. No luck.

So, I started looking around for a physical store that would carry a 22 pin SATA power and data cable extension. Apparently they don’t exist. I was under this naive belief that just because I didn’t go out and buy hard drive cables at physical stores every day didn’t mean they weren’t available. I looked on all the local stores’ websites without success. Then I called Best Buy hoping it was one of those small items they just didn’t bother to list. The sales associate I talked to didn’t seem particularly well versed in cables. He kept writing down that I wanted a 22 inch cable, rather than a 22 pin cable. In the end, he confirmed they didn’t have it. The next store I called I kept it simple and asked if they carried hard drive cables. The answer was no. So, I went back to Amazon and ordered a 12″ extension cable. I was nervous that 12″ would be too much but there weren’t a lot of other options. It arrived on Thursday.

Nowhere near as cocky as I had been Tuesday, I started trying to put things together again. The converter bay I bought was made so you could put two SSDs in, if desired. Originally, I had put my SSD in the lower position. However, the two ends of the cable were too close together and I couldn’t make it fit. I changed the SSD to the upper position and tried again. It still didn’t really fit but it was close enough that I hoped it would work.

In the picture above you can see how little room I had to work with. The original hard drive cable comes out underneath where the optical drive bay is and there’s no where except on top of the optical drive bay for the excess extension cable to go. It was a tight fit and I wasn’t entirely sure I’d be able to get the back cover on. Nor was I convinced the connections would be good enough it would all actually work. I’m not sure if you can tell from the picture but the cable is entering the SSD at a slight angle. When I originally decided to buy an all-in-one computer I hadn’t been thinking of scenarios like this . . .

Anyway, I crammed everything in, crammed the back cover on and held it down while I screwed everything back together. To my surprise, and relief, the computer did turn on. Even better, the BIOS saw the drive and the Windows DVD seemed perfectly happy to install to it.

I decided to do a clean install instead of trying to migrate my data directly. My old drive was only 320 GB so size wasn’t a problem but Anna had never had a clean Windows install. I had gotten rid of most of the gunk Windows computers ship with but she’d been three years with the same install and I figured it would be a good idea to start from scratch.

Once I had the cover back on, everything else went really, really well. All her old programs appear to have transferred over fine and I think I’ve got all my files over also (though I keep thinking I must be missing something . . . ). She obviously is running a lot faster at the moment. She’s slow for an SSD, I think, but still much faster than she was⁴.

Anyway, hopefully Anna stops being so dramatic and can now go back to being my convenient kitchen computer again.

My work computer is also a Windows computer but I try not to mix work and home. We also use to have a Mac Mini but that died fairly recently. ↩
At which point I assume we’ll be moving into a small enough space that we’ll be lucky to fit one laptop each. ↩
I’m surprised every time they tell me I’m eligible for a prime trial because I never continue it. ↩
As far as I can tell, the BIOS isn’t supporting AHCI. I tried upgrading her BIOS and still didn’t have any luck. ↩

Christiansen Park, Boulder, CO

Please note this post was created in 2013 and may contain outdated information.

One the way home from the Arapahoe Ridge Park we stopped by Christiansen Park. This park is more of a neighborhood park in size. It has a nice structure and some swings but nothing that makes it overly unique.

Calvin immediately became enthralled with the chalk hopscotch markings that had been left on the sidewalk.

The playground equipment had both a double slide and a spiral slide.

These are the first dinosaur spring riders I’ve seen.

Calvin enjoyed hanging upside down on the bike rack.

Calvin particularly enjoyed the sliding pole. He went slid down it several times. However, the last time he got a friction burn and decided it was time to go home.

Summary:

Features	Double slide, spiral slide, age 5-12 playground equipment, bucket swings, swings, dinosaur spring riders, sliding pole, shaded bench and picnic table, biking paths
Surface Material	Sand with poured rubber underneath the double slide
Restrooms	No restrooms :(
Water fountain	None
Shade	Shaded shelter with picnic table. There is also a shaded bench.
Picnic area	There is one covered shelter with a picnic table
Pros	Nice neighborhood park
Cons	No bathrooms of any kind.

View Random Parks and Playgrounds in a larger map

Arapahoe Ridge Park, Boulder, CO a.k.a. Rock Park

Please note this post was created in 2013 and may contain outdated information.

We haven’t gone to the park recently because it’s been beastly hot (i.e. above 80 degrees). Last week wasn’t too bad but I spent much of the week wandering around to various libraries looking at their ILS (catalog system). Fortunately, mom was around to watch Calvin since preschool had their summer conference and was closed Wednesday-Friday. This morning I took mom back to the airport. When I arrived back home I was shocked to see it was still in the 70s. I had planned to do USEFUL THINGS but decided we needed to grab the opportunity to go to the park while the weather was bearable.

Today I decided we’d go to Arapahoe Ridge Park. I saw a post about it on 8Z Real Estate that sounded interesting¹

In some ways, the park is very traditional. It actually has a real merry-go-round which I didn’t realize still existed in any Boulder parks.

What really makes this park stand out though is the rock cave and tunnel system. It’s a man-made structure that has numerous tunnels kids can wiggle through as well as a large cave area that can fit quite a few children. Most parks we’ve visited have one or two mothers with their young kids. However, when we arrived at this one there was a swath of older neighborhood kids who were hanging out in the cool cave area.

The tunnels were fun looking but definitely sized for children, not adults. One father was playing tag with his kids. He did manage to wiggle through the tunnels without getting stuck but his kids had a definite advantage.

Calvin enjoyed clambering on top of the rocks.

Calvin called the little cave a house.

The park also has an older-style playground which apparently use to have a slide but, according to the 8z site, was removed because it allowed the kids to go too fast. What remains is a tic-tac-toe feature, which Calvin got me to play with him, and 3 steering wheels.

Summary:

Features	Rock cave and tunnels, bucket swings, tennis court, ball field, tic-tac-toe feature, steering wheels, spring riders merry-go-round, grill, shaded picnic table, shaded benches
Surface Material	Pea Gravel
Restrooms	No restrooms :(
Water fountain	None
Shade	Shaded shelter with picnic table. There are also several shaded benches. However, most of the play equipment, except in the rock cave, is out under the sun
Picnic area	There is one covered shelter with a picnic table
Parking	Parking was a little odd. There doesn’t appear to be any official parking lot so we ended up parking in one of the cul-de-sacs that were close to the park.
Pros	Rock cave/tunnel Merry-go-round
Cons	No bathrooms of any kind.

View Random Parks and Playgrounds in a larger map

The 8z post says there is a baby bucket swing as well as a regular swing. All I saw were 2 bucket swings, no regular ones. ↩

Reading Goal: Update 9

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted an update but I don’t feel like I’ve read much recently.

As an aside, I’m a little stumped on my 2nd literature book. I don’t particularly want to repeat the Life of Pi experience. Using the Tag Browser in our library’s catalog I tried to find a tagmash for literature award winners and humor. The results where not encouraging. There were a couple books that had the “humor” tag but more research showed they were very dark, cynical humor. Surely there’s award winning literature out there that dares to be happy. I’m not asking for an unrealistic happily-ever-after ending, just one where normal people are happy and content with their lives.

Also, I’ve won a LibraryThing Early Review copy of The Arrangement, by Mary Balogh. I haven’t received it yet but have great hopes that it’ll be good.

Books I’ve finished recently:

Juvenile Fiction: The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani – I started the book last night and stayed up till 1am to finish it. I’m tired and am going to go to bed when Calvin does but it was a good book. Every couple of years a village discovers that two of their children have gone missing. Later, the remaining children notice that these children are appearing in the fairy tale books they read. It turns out that the “School Master” steals only exceptionally good children or exceptionally bad children. The “good” children go to a school to learn how to be princesses and princes while the “bad” children learn how to be villains. Sophie is beautiful and is purposefully good. She even donated skin care products to the local orphanage. She can’t wait to be stolen away so she can take her rightful place as a princess. Agatha, Sophie’s good deed, is the town’s outcast child. She and her mother live in a graveyard, she has no social skills, and doesn’t really like people. Toward the beginning of the story, the two girls are kidnapped. However, Agatha ends up in the school for good and Sophie ends up in the school for bad. What follows is an interesting story about how the girls try to get back the life they’re use to. I really loved the ending.
Eight Million Gods, by Wen Spencer – Fun urban fantasy set in Japan.
Graphic Novel: Agent Gates and the Secret Adventures of Devonton Abbey: A Parody of Downton Abbey, by Camaren Subhiyah and illustrated by Kyle Hilton – I’ve only watched two episodes of Downton Abbey but that was enough to get a huge kick out of this graphic novel. Even Jaeger enjoyed it and he’s only watched one episode.
Bestseller: Inferno, by Dan Brown – I made it through! I had to take copious breaks in order to make it through the audio book. I listened to a bit and then listened to Kindred in Death then I started Inferno again and then stopped for a delightful re-listen of Faking It and finally managed to finish Inferno. It’s really not my thing. This one wasn’t nearly as controversial as some of his earlier books. As I mentioned before, I got a bit tired of Robert Langdon’s monologues. However, the plot itself was interesting.
A Countess Below Stairs, by Eva Ibbotson – I remembering really liking this book at the time but my brain is too sleepy to remember much about it. I remember thinking is was a very sweet romance.
Once Upon a Tower, by Eloisa James – This is loosely within a series that takes elements of fairy tales and retells them as historical romances. I like the series and I enjoyed this book but feel that some of the other ones in the series are stronger books.

Currently Reading:

Some of my Best Friends are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool to High School Second Edition, by Judith Wynn Halsted – A third edition from 2009 is available but this is the one that was checked in at Erie. I got it hoping for suggestions of good audio books for Calvin. We go through an amazing number. Calvin doesn’t mind listening to the same ones over and over again but I get bored. Usually when a book is reviewed it is reviewed based on reading level not listening level. I’m finding it hard to find good chapter audio books where the issues dealt with aren’t too old for Calvin (such as first crushes, homework problems, etc). I was hoping this book might offer some suggestions, and it may, but at the moment I got sidetracked by the extensive discussion of what sort of reading environment gifted children need. I’m not sure Calvin is strictly speaking “gifted” but I do expect him to be above average and I’m starting to worry about finding an appropriate educational environment to encourage him intellectually when we hit elementary school.

Current Goal Counts:

Category	Goal	Number Read
Best Sellers	2	2
Biography, Autobiography, Memoir	2	2
Fiction Books Jaeger Recommends	2	1
Christian Fiction	2	2
Graphic Novels	2	2
Historical Fiction	2	1
Informational	2	2
Juvenile Books	12	8
Literature	2	1
Mystery	2	1, 1 in progress
Poetry Anthologies	2	1, 1 in progress
Realistic Fiction	2	1
Short Story Anthologies	2	2
Total	36	26

The Read-Aloud Handbook, Go Buy it Now

I just checked out the seventh edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook, by Jim Trelease. I read an earlier edition when Calvin was an infant but decided it was time for a re-read. I was impressed by how much additional content had been added to the seventh edition, mostly in the area of eBooks.

The basic premise of The Read-Aloud Handbook is that it is essential for parents and teachers to read aloud to their children. Being a librarian, it’s not surprisingly I’m a firm proponent of this message. However, I’m an adult librarian. Before having Calvin I was absolutely hopeless with children¹. After graduate school when I was desperately looking for jobs I never applied for a children or young adult librarian position even though those positions seemed relatively plentiful at the time.

Before Calvin was born, I spent years researching pregnancy and various stages of early childhood. It wasn’t until Calvin was here that I realized I, the librarian, had no idea what sort of books I should be providing Calvin and at what points in his life. I went to the library and checked out stacks of books about books and children. Most of them were good but the book that stands out the most in my mind is Trelease’s book. It contains a ton of practical advice nicely balanced with both anecdotes and research.

A significant port of the book is available online through Trelease’s website However, if you are a parent and have not read this book yet, run to your nearest bookstore or library and procure it.

I suspect I’m still hopeless with every child except Calvin. ↩

Herbert Park, Lincoln, NE, USA

Please note this post was created in 2013 and may contain outdated information.

We’ve been in Lincoln for the past couple of days visiting friends. We’ve spent most of this time playing board games that are way above Calvin’s current abilities. While we do this he watches an excessive amount of videos or plays with Legos. However, I’ve been trying to make sure he has at least one active thing to do each day.

Yesterday I took Calvin to Herbert Park which is relatively near our friends’ house. I forgot my phone to take pictures. However, the visit didn’t last as long as I was expecting. The park has a wonderful old-fashioned merry-go-round. Anya and I pushed Calvin on it for a pretty long time. Then, he went over to the swings. I gave him one big push on the swing and Calvin regurgitated supper. So, we decided that was enough park for the day.

Today, Jaeger and I took Calvin back to the park, before supper, and this time I remembered my phone. This park is hidden away, Anya didn’t even realize it was there before I found it on the city’s list of parks with playgrounds. It wasn’t clear where the park entrace was so the first time I went there I went south on 81st and turned left on Trail Ridge Rd. I found a place to park but it required hiking through a field to get down to the playground. This time I turned right and was able to park close to the playground on Apache Trail.

Calvin remembered the merry-go-round fondly from our last visit and immediately headed to it. I did agree to push him on the merry-go-round again but limited it to shorter pushes with more breaks in between.

Calvin briefly played with the spring rider but didn’t find it nearly as novel as the merry-go-round.

The playground also had some traditional playground equipment that is technically rated for ages 5-12. It had both a curved slide and a straight one. Calvin pretended the equipment was a ship and slid down the slide to get to a life raft, which was a rubber square.

The park has a digger but it’s a little too big for Calvin and also isn’t in top condition (though still workable).

Jaeger pushed Calvin a bit on the swings without any unfortunate incidences this time.

All-in-all, it’s a nice little park. We’ll probably visit it again next time we’re in Lincoln.

Summary:

Features	Swings, bucket swings, merry-go-round, digger, age 5-12 playground equipment, slide, circular slide, 2 spring riders
Surface Material	Rubber for most of the area with a sand/pea gravel combo for the swing and digger area
Restrooms	Yes! There’s a porta potty across the bridge next to the park entrance
Water fountain	Yes, next to the porta potty
Shade	There are a several mature trees that offer shade for the benches, not as much shade for the playground equipment
Picnic area	Several picnic tables including a covered shelter on the other side of the bridge
Pros	Merry-go-round! (hard to find these days) Bathrooms and water fountain
Cons	Playground equipment is not too old but is showing signs of very minor wear It’s a little hard to find the right place to park on the first visit

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