With a heat wave hitting Fairfield and temperature going up to 110, we decided to head for the cool Pacific coast and enjoy the day at the Golden Gate Park!

Mr. Miles got to meet ducks and geese, other puppies, and other dog lovers while we strolled through the whole park.

In the main area there’s a fairground location. In the morning on the grassy areas, groups of people were doing Tai Chi and other martial arts, which was very fun to see!

Miles walked miles and miles and did great! We will definitely be coming back soon!

Today for 4th of July, we had company over. For lunch I made my world famous penne with fresh grape tomatoes and basil from the garden and wild caught shrimp. For dinner of course we had to grill! Burgers, corn on the cob, grilled peppers.. mmm..

When it got dark out we headed toward Vacaville to catch the fireworks show. Of course the pictures don’t capture how beautiful they were!

Today is Saturday, July 3rd. It’s getting hot so it’s the perfect time to get out of town and head toward the cooler coast. Leanne, Miles, our friend Kate, and I packed up the Subaru and headed foe the coast!

First stop was an oyster restaurant near Point Reyes Beach. The oysters were so fresh and delicious!

Because the waters are so choppy near Point Reyes, there historically have been a huge number of shipwrecks. Right near the oyster restaurant was one such shipwreck which we had to explore.

Next stop was the Cyprus Tunnel! This is a tunnel made of cyprus trees that you can walk through. It was so beautiful!

Finally, it was time to head to the beach! This was Mile’s first time he’s been to the beach and he loved it! He learned how to dig in the sand and loved stepping in the sand as well. The Pacific water was freezing! However, nothing beats the serene sound of the waves along with the salty smell of the ocean breeze.

Miles is now fully vaccinated against all the deadly puppy viruses, and as such it was finally time to take him out to explore the big city. How would he do? We know he’s only been in the suburbs. How would he react to thousands upon thousands of people, hundreds of other puppies, bustling traffic, noises from every direction, and the smells. The smells! The smell of fresh mozzarella melted on the pizza at an outdoor table while walking past Little Italy, the smell of the bay over Fisherman’s Wharf, the smell of authentic Chinese food at the dim sum restaurant, the smells at the parks, the smells on the sidewalk. So many new smells!

Turns out our puppy handled everything like a champ. Not only did he not get overwhelmed by anything, but he adjusted to city life exceptionally fast! He got so many pets and praises from passerbys and he reveled in the attention! Half a dozen girls told him immediately that they loved him. One of the girl’s boyfriend looked at her and said, “what the heck? It took you a year to say that to me and you just met him!” 😄

Some of our puppy’s favorite moments were meeting other puppies at Washington Park, learning how to step on grates, getting showered with attention everywhere he went, and a nice long nap after about 5 miles of walking when Leanne and I ate at a restaurant at Pier 39.

When we finally went to leave SF, we put him to sleep in the backseat of our SUV. As we were driving out of the city, a whole family was looking at our backseat, smiling and waving at our car. So we look around to see what they’re looking at. Turns out Miles was sitting with his head looking out the window, smiling at the family and soaking up just a last bit of attention and love from the people of SF. We will have to take our city puppy back soon!

We’ve had Miles for 1 month now, and he’s officially 3 months old. He was the largest of his litter when we got him and the trajectory of nearly straight vertical upward growth never slowed down since we got him. When we got him, he was around 12 lbs. He’s now weighing in at 28 lbs, meaning 16lb weight growth in a month!!

Miles is very smart! Through diligent hard work and the administration of many many treats, he’s learned how to sit, stay, spin, lay down, and most importantly, leave it!

Having been the baby sibling and having never raised a child, I don’t know anything about raising kids. However, I have to imagine that many lessons can be obtained from raising a puppy. Things I’ve learned so far:

• Puppies need naps. They sleep. A lot.
• The more wild they are, either the more they need to be exercised or the more they need to sleep. It’s counterintuituve, but puppies (and I hear kids) get crazier as they get more tired.
• No naps close to bedtime.
• Stick to a schedule! Even on weekends! Today is Sunday and I was up at 6am 😑
• Constant positive reinforcement. Don’t get frustrated or upset, just reward good behavior and don’t reinforce bad behavior.
• Crate training is really important. Admittedly, Leanne tells me this part doesn’t translate well for raising children.

One way to journal that has fascinated me for years is taking a second of video every day, then mashing them together in a collage. A month would be 30 seconds, a year would be about 6 minutes. Because it’s video, it triggers memory more than just a photograph would.

Since turning 30, I have decided to take a second of video daily. The first month of my 30s is below. So far my 30s have been extremely eventful!

Leanne and I took a week off to raise the new puppy. Well, turns out that puppies sleep.. a lot! Puppies sleep about 16-20 hours a day, leaving a lot of time left to be filled with other activities.

For my 30th birthday, Leanne bought me a brew kit to brew our own beer. So with the kit ready, it was time to invite some friends over and get cooking!

The first step is making sure everything is nice and clean. Then get the water heated, add the grains for that delicious flavor, add the malt, let it boil, put in other flavorings, and then get it nice and cool. Once it’s cool, put in the yeast and let it start chewing up that delicious malt.

Now we just wait for the yeast to do its thing and turn this into delicious beer. Cheers!

Starbucks will give you a cup on doggie safe whip cream for free if you ask for a puppacino. We did and brought it home for our puppy who loved it! Our pup is now a huge Starbucks fan!

Leanne and I picked up the newest member of our family, our first fur baby: Miles! We named him Miles because he’s going to run many many miles with us.

For Leanne and I, this is really our first puppy. I had a puppy as a kid, but being a 5 year old with the puppy, I didn’t really get much experience raising him. As such, Leanne and I thought that we would be able to go hiking with the puppy the day after we got him. Oh, how naive we were!

The day we got Miles we brought him home. Since it was a long car ride, we did have to stop a few times to let him out. On one of the stops, a gust of wind nearly blew him over! Then he had trouble getting up a very very small hill. It’s going to be a little while before we go for long hikes with him 🤭