Life at a "Swell's" pace

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The Bean has been all about baseball lately and with that comes an obsession with the movie, "The Sandlot." You know, the whole movie about the kids that play ball on a dirt field in the back of a lot behind an old man's house? The ball goes over the fence and the kids lose it to a big dog named Hercules. Yeah, that movie. Well, The Bean has had that movie on repeat since the end of March and he loves the scene where the kid puts on some P.F. Flyers to outrun the big dog in order to get their ball back.

"YOU PLAY BALL LIKE A GIRL!"

The Bean got his P.F. Flyers and fell in love with them straight out of the box.

He couldn't wait to put them on and run around the block.

After all, they are "guaranteed to make a kid run faster and jump higher."

"You're killin' me 'Smalls'!"

See more photos of The Bean with his P.F. Flyers here and snag your own pair by clicking the image below.

What happened this time last year?

I decided to start a new series for my blog titled, "Views from my Neighborhood." I figured, what better way to share the places we go right here in our own city. No matter if we move from here or not, there will always be something to share in regards to the "views from my neighborhood."

Our walks take us all over the city here in Lebanon, Oregon, but one of our favorites is to the local library.

The "old" library used to be housed in the old hospital building located at 626 Second Street. The hospital has since moved to the north side of town, but the old hospital building still stands and is now the current location of the Lebanon Chapter for Boys and Girls Club of America. Straight ahead of The Bean in this above photo is the new library for the city. It finished construction and opened its doors to the public in 2009.

The original signage for the hospital still visible through the stone.

This 24 bed hospital was built here in 1936 where a former grade school sat. It was determined that there was a need for a larger hospital by Dr. Joel Booth-president of the hospital at that time.

During the 1940s, the population of Lebanon tripled and just 11 years after it was built the hospital was found to be overcrowded and was condemned as a fire hazard. In 1948 the Mennonite Church took over management of the facility while a fund drive was organized with the help of attorney Lawrence Morley as general chairman, Lebanon lumberman John Nyland, and Max Thecker, president of Cascade Plywood Corporation. Dr. Booth was still president of the hospital board, and again promoted construction of a new building. The new Lebanon General Hospital was dedicated on January 20, 1952. (source)

One of our many walks through town when we are out and about takes us to the new library building. We really enjoy the new building and there's still more construction going on around the grounds of the library. A community gazebo is in the works currently.