Portland Parents

Did you know we ( Portland ) had a free store for PPS teachers? It’s called “Schoolhouse Supplies!” They’re having a month-long supply drive in August, and you’re invited to the kick-off party. ( August 1, 11AM-2PM Unitus Plaza, 1300 SW 6th Avenue map)

Guests of all ages can enjoy live bands, sweet treats, cool prizes, coloring contests, face painting, and more! All donations collected at this event and throughout the drive will be used to stock the free store for teachers at Schoolhouse Supplies.

What do they want? Well, of course they’ll take all school supplies, but they especially need Lined loose leaf paper, markers, colored pencils, crayons, erasers, pencils, spiral notebooks, glue sticks, bottled glue, scissors, rulers, and pencil sharpeners.

You can also drop your supply donations at the following Portland businesses: AAA Oregon, Fred Meyer, Columbia Sportswear, Jantzen Beach Super Center, OnPoint Credit Union, Unitus Community Credit Union, US Bank, or directly at Schoolhouse Supplies (2735 NE 82nd Avenue).

Schoolhouse Supplies, the free store for Portland Public School teachers, invites the community downtown to kick off its month-long Back-to-School Supply Drive on Wednesday, August 1, from 11am to 2pm.

Guests of all ages can enjoy live bands, sweet treats, cool prizes, coloring contests, face painting, and more! All donations collected at this event and throughout the drive will be used to stock the free store for teachers at Schoolhouse Supplies.

WHERE: Unitus Plaza, 1300 SW 6th Avenue (downtown on 6th between Jefferson and Columbia)

SUPPLY WISH LIST: Lined loose leaf paper, markers, colored pencils, crayons, erasers, pencils, spiral notebooks, glue sticks, bottled glue, scissors, rulers, and pencil sharpeners.

DROP-OFF LOCATIONS: Community members also can drop their supply donations at the following Portland businesses: AAA Oregon, Fred Meyer, Columbia Sportswear,
Jantzen Beach Super Center, OnPoint Credit Union, Unitus Community Credit Union,
US Bank, or directly at Schoolhouse Supplies (2735 NE 82nd Avenue).

Yoshida’s 12th Annual Sand in the City is coming in about 2 weeks. Four hundred and fifty tons of sand, fifty thousand spectators. Sand sculptures like you’d only ever see at the beach (thus the name, natch). There will be other events too, vendors, food, and Kids on the Block puppetry; the proceeds go to Kids on the Block.

While the practice site is on NW Quimby and 23rd, the actual display and competition will be at the Pioneer Courthouse Square.

The weather looks great; today the weather looks sunny and 80 degrees for that weekend. Take MAX to the Square and enjoy the sandcastles without the traffic— or the two hour drive!

… can’t wait to meet you for lunch.

Kia, an 11 year old female Amur Leopard joined Frederick at the zoo. She takes the place of Frederick’s sister who died of cancer last year. Frederick hasn’t had to share his space since then, but he seems to be adapting ok.

Kia comes from the Erie Zoo in Pennsylvania. They have a very active breeding program for these cats and by taking Kia from them, we’ve given them room to have more kittens. Leopard Kittens, cute, eh?

You can get more info on Amur Leopards at the Zoo Website

Get in touch with the Portland Neighborhood Speed Reader Board Program. The City of Portland has just purchased a half dozen new “Your Speed…” signs and lends them out to concerned neighborhood associations. Check out this PDF

PORTLAND, Oregon – A new safety program launched by the city of Portland to help neighborhoods slow speeding traffic, uses the latest radar speed management technology from Information Display Company (IDC). The City of Portland Office of Transportation recently purchased six “smart” speed reader boards (also known as “Your Speed” signs) from Portland-based IDC, which are being used by the city for temporary use in neighborhoods experiencing problems with speeding traffic.
In the last couple of years, budget shortfalls have significantly reduced city-funded traffic calming projects in Portland. The new Neighborhood Speed Reader Board Program was created as a flexible, cost-efficient and highly effective alternative for Portland neighborhoods looking to slow speeding traffic, particularly around schools, playgrounds and residential streets.
The speed reader boards being used by the city of Portland are supplied by Portland-based Information Display Company, one of the largest designers and manufacturers of traffic calming technology. The signs are designed for temporary mounting on existing utility poles, portable stands or other devices where they detect approaching vehicles and display to passing drivers their actual speed.
“Studies have shown that in the overwhelming majority of cases, speeding drivers do not mean to break the law but rather drive over the limit because they are simply not paying attention to either the posted limit or their actual speed,” said Gary O’Dell, president of Information Display Company. “By displaying the car’s actual speed, speed reader boards remind drivers to check their speedometer and to slow down if necessary.”
Individuals interested in obtaining a speed reader board from the city begin by making a request to Portland’s Traffic Safety and Neighborhood Livability Hot Line at (503) 823-SAFE. Deployment of the signs is determined primarily by speed and crash history of the problem area and by citizen referral. The city currently owns six radar signs, which are being deployed for approximately 2 weeks in each location.
To augment the city’s speed reader board program, Information Display Company launched a complimentary program of its own. Through its FastTrack program, IDC loans radar speed signs to qualified groups or organizations on a 30-day trial basis. Once it’s determined that the sign provides effective results, the signs may be purchased at a special “fast track” discount rate.
“In the past couple of years, traffic calming with radar speed signs has moved solidly into broad stream acceptance throughout the traffic safety industry,” said O’Dell. “Not only has the technology been proven effective, but it is also proving to be a great alternative to speed bumps and
other old-tech solutions that can impede emergency vehicles, increase traffic noise or add a host of other concerns.”
More information on IDC’s FastTrack program as well as information on other traffic calming options including grant funding and federal government programs can be found on the IDC-sponsored neighborhood traffic control information web site.

Of these parental myths, I don’t agree with numbers one (Parents love their children equally) and three (Having two kids is twice as hard as having one kid). I know that I check in on my daughters to make sure they’re not dead. And I know all about the pre-sugar hypers.

This week, Babble.com features two timely articles about the challenges of living in the city with kids. Both articles are a must-read — not only for urban parents, but for anyone who has to share a city with strollers. In “Notes from Underground,” Lynn Harris wonders why subway riders love babies but hate pregnant women. She contrasts her pregnant subway experience – she was almost never offered a seat — with the legions of fellow riders who’ve played with her new baby and carried her stroller up the stairs. Could these really be the same people who raced her to a subway seat when she was eight months pregnant — in August?

Harris makes some daring observations and reaches some surprising conclusions. Read the article.

In the latest installment of Babble’s advice column “Parental Advisory,” a Brooklyn parent asks about the etiquette of bringing her baby into a bar. Writes the parent:

I never get sloppy drunk or spill scalding coffee on him. And he never interrupts other patrons, except with the occasional smile or wave. But they glare at me like I’m a terrible parent and like it’s impossible for them to update their websites with a one-year-old in sight! Why do I keep reading blogs and op-eds about how I’m ruining Brooklyn? Am I really supposed to get a
babysitter for that thirty-minute visit to a drinks party or that hour-long catch-up coffee?
Are babies really a menace to Brooklyn?

Read Rebecca Odes and Ceridwen Morris’ nuanced response.

Babble is a new kind of parenting magazine, one that talks to parents not just as caregivers, but as fun, smart, intellectually curious people. We’re tackling the subject of parenting with irreverent honesty, minus the infantilizing, hyper-judgmental tone or acquisitive baby-as-accessory bent of so much of today’s parenting fare. With a fresh design, a comprehensive info center, a slew of fun columns, lively message board and some of the best writers in the world, Babble is a must-read for urban parents.

Press coverage has poured in from The New York Times Sunday Styles (Babble “aspires to appeal to educated, culturally engaged urban hipsters who are knee-deep in baby gear and seeking not just advice but the humor in it all”), Cookie (”a really ambitious effort with much to offer”), Huffington Post (”good, really good”), Time, The New York Post, The Chicago Tribune, Crain’s, Advertising Age and The Toronto Star. Read what people are saying.

No, this isn’t a nickname for a person; it’s the first new state park campground in 30 years!

It’s 31 miles west of Portland (so perfect for a short weekend trip), and even boasts 12 one-room (and 3 two-room) cabins. Of course it has tent camping and rv camping as well. You can get more information here or here.

The end of the school year is nigh, and your kids will soon be laying on the couch eating potato chips and flipping between Blue’s Clues and Oprah.

What’re you going to occupy their time with?

I think there’s two main categories of activities in which we enroll our kids. On one hand, we have things they go do by themselves and things we teach them. What are your plans?

Shamelessly swiped from The Simple Dollar, I’ll provide five of his ( of his eight; go read his site for more ), and then I’ll provide five more on top of them. And I’ll mix them up so you can’t tell which are mine and which are his.

1. The Dangerous Book for Boys
2. A framed scrapbook page of him and his kids, with journalling and photos
3. Yard Work
4. Clean his house areas; is he the kitchen guy? The garage guy?
5. Car wash
6. Take the kids for a walk or drive, or let him out of the house for something fun.
7. Gardening
8. Dog detail Clean up the dog poo in your yard.
9. Communication
10. A blank journal with inspiring quotes you’ve written in for him.