Mill Ends Park

I wanted to give Mill Ends Park its own post, even though we visited it the same day as the other Willamette waterfront parks. The reason is because it is the smallest park in the world!

It is a cute little island in the middle of SW Naito Parkway at the intersection of SW Taylor Street. Just 2 feet in diameter, it was easily hidden behind the Rose Festival Entry sign.

On the information marker sign, located on the sidewalk 38 feet west of the park, it reads:

From his office on the second floor of the old Oregon Journal building, journalist Dick Fagen (1911-1969) periodically gazed down on the busy Front Avenue thoroughfare. It was his keen imagination that turned a utility pole hole, in the avenue's median strip at Taylor Street, into "Mill Ends Park". The Guiness Book of World Records lists it as the world's smallest Park. It is twenty-four inches in diameter, and contains 452.16 square inches of land. In his "Mill Ends" column in the Oregon Journal, Fagan described a variety of events occurring in the Park, which were presided over by Patrick O'Toole, head Leprechaun residing in the Park. Weddings and other celebrations have taken place at Mill Ends, and on St. Patrick's Day, 1976, the site was dedicated as an official Park of the City of Portland.

More photos here.

Related posts:
Westmoreland Park, Rocky Butte, Kelley Point Park, Hoyt Arboretum, Glendoveer Fitness Trail, Waterfront Park & Eastbank Esplanade

Waterfront Park & Eastbank Esplanade

We visited Tom McCall Waterfront Park right after the Grand Floral Parade. Boy, was it packed! The Rose Festival was still in full swing and there were rides, fun, and foot traffic everywhere. It seems to me that it is usually a very bi-polar park: Depending on the time of year, it is either very crowded or very empty.

It's a great park that is very long. Along the west bank of the Willamette River, there are lots of wide open spaces, lots of grass, and lots of trees. It is so beautiful to walk along and there is always something to look at. Boats, river water, bridges, people, buildings, water fountains, and so much more.

We crossed the river on the Hawthorne Bridge and walked the other direction along the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade. This was the first time I walked along the east bank of the river and I very much enjoyed it. It is a nice view of the city, as you can see in the pictures. A great bike path stretches along the east side of the river, so we'll have to try that out sometime.

We finished our journey that day under the Burnside Bridge. We wanted to check out the Burnside Skatepark and see some mad skills. We sure did, and I was completely amazed at the talent that some of those guys and girls had that day. I can barely stand on a skateboard and they are making the sport look absolutely beautiful.

More photos here.

Related posts:
Westmoreland Park, Rocky Butte, Kelley Point Park, Hoyt Arboretum, Glendoveer Fitness Trail

Revisiting 'Fertilization Day'

My buddy reminded me about a topic that I had written about in a previous post two years ago. I wrote Happy Fertilization Day when reflecting on the miracle of fertilization rather than childbirth (as today is my birthday).

Check out the link and let me know which you think is more of a miracle: fertilization or childbirth. Or maybe you don't even believe they are miracles? Are they both just normal biological processes? I think that maybe my viewpoint will change, one day, when I become a dad.

Highlights from Week 1

Week 1 of graduate school is completed. The overwhelming feeling has passed. Many more weeks to go. I have realized that this program is certainly what it was advertised to be. It rids you of your social life. As it did me and mine.

But I'm pumped because we've been having fun doing projects, reading kids' books, and learning about many aspects of being a teacher. Lots and lots of reading. I'm glad I'm enjoying the material! Textbooks as well as kids' literature. Here are a couple highlights from my first week:

The Donut Chef is such a cute picture book that I randomly found on the shelf in the library. It was published just last year and all the illustrations were done with computer graphics. Beautifully designed images. The book is about a chef that starts a donut shop, another chef opens his donut shop next door, and they go head to head trying to out-do each other. Great book about competition and learning that sometimes quality is better than quantity. And the book rhymes too!

My Friend Rabbit is a Caldecott winner, published in 2002. It is a very simple picture book that tells of the importance of staying loyal to a good friend even though trouble follows him. There are very few words in the book--just about 11 sentences total--which allows for great storytelling through the illustrations. A quick read, fun story, and clear life lesson at the end makes this a keeper.

Graduate School Begins

I have decided to follow in the footsteps of my friend and fellow grad school blogger. She always posts a picture of the stack of books she will be reading during the upcoming semester. So here is my stack...

The stack doesn't seem too overwhelming, I suppose. Pursuing a full-time MAT degree in one year does make me a little nervous, though. I certainly have heard many stories about how my social life will end as I know it. Thankfully, I am extremely interested in this subject matter that will spearhead my career, unlike many of my undergraduate courses.

I am also glad that I now know what my priorities are, as opposed to the undergraduate years. I will no longer be playing video games with my buddies in the dorm, but will instead be preparing my mind for the responsibilities of guiding young children's lives. My free time will consist of dates with my wife, reading the Bible, or hanging with close friends from my church community. Additionally, this will be my career to shape the future of my family. My actions now will impact my own future children and generations to come. It's a big deal because I will be a teacher for the rest of my life and I am realizing how many lives I will be impacting on a daily basis...

...I hope I'm good at it. We'll find out soon enough.

Related Post: My Road to Teaching

Improvement in Child Behavior

My heart was struck with joy this week regarding one of our 1st graders. He is a boy with so much testosterone welled up within him and I just wish he had a dad at home to wrestle with. He could easily be labeled a "problem child" because of the way that he responds to instruction, but that's not the way I see him. To me, he is a fun-loving, super smart kid who just needs quality discipline.

Over the past year, I have often dealt with his temper tantrums after telling him that he needs to go wash his hands before snack time. He is usually playing with legos building a spaceship, using his free time productively. But he is just a stubborn little kid that doesn't want to follow directions. I have easily lost count of the number of times we have seen him erupt into fits of rage. But we have worked hard at being consistent with him, as well as all of the other teachers in the school who have put together a special behavior program for him.

I witnessed the payoff earlier this week during a very normal snack time. I told him he had a choice to go wash his hands immediately or after five more minutes of free time. Usually he picks the "five more minutes" choice, duh. But this time he didn't say anything. No response. I could tell that something was bothering him, but I didn't have the time to get into a deep conversation.

After three minutes, I came back to him and gave him a warning that he had only two minutes left of free time. It was then that he realized that I was serious and began pouting a little bit. He was flat on the floor for the next two minutes. I could see the wheels turning inside of his head. He was thinking about his choices: 1) Get angry and be unhappy or 2) Follow directions and have a tasty meal. He knew what the right choice was, but he really wanted to keep playing with legos. At the same time, he also knew that I wouldn't let him play with legos if he didn't follow directions (Adults often have problems with kids when they give them instructions but don't follow through with consequences. Kids pick up on this quickly and the inconsistency is very confusing and frustrating for them).

As I watched his little mind work and after I told him that his time was up, he simply got up and he went to go wash his hands without complaining. After he finished his snack, I went over to him, looked him in the eye, told him I was proud of him, and thanked him for doing it without complaining. And, of course, a congratulatory high-five.

It's times like these that I get so excited to be a teacher. It gives me so much joy to see little bratty kids change and grow to be more responsible. The end of the school year was yesterday. Thinking back over the year and the work that my coworker and I have invested into these kids' lives makes me so much happier than I think I could be doing any other job. I am beginning to think that this isn't really a job at all, but a privilege to help other people.

Image from here.

Kid Quote: Trust

In our child care program, we have a brand new silly rule that instructs us to only allow kids into the bathroom to wash their hands one at a time. One at a time. Yes, it takes forever to get through the line of kids. So naturally, there is a lot of waiting.

At our school, there is a long hallway between our program and the bathroom door. Sometimes we let them walk down the hall and wait right outside the bathroom door until the kid before them comes out. We don't let our problem children do this for obvious reasons.

One cute little kindergarten girl gives us the most trouble when it comes to handwashing and waiting. She often plays around in the bathroom or wants to go in with the other girls. One day, while the bathroom was occupied by another kid, she wanted to walk down to the bathroom door and wait for the person to finish.

"Can I trust you to go wait outside the door?" I asked her suspiciously. "Will you wait until the next person comes out before you go in?" I paused and then repeated, "Can you be trusted?"

"No," she replied.

Surprised at her honesty, expecting a lie to come out, I laughed and said, "Well then I think you had better wait here with me then."

Fascinating! Even 6-year old kindergartners know that their misbehavior creates distrust in relationships. I pray that she holds onto that, puts two and two together, and eventually regains our trust in her.