This Week in the Allen Household

It has been an unexpectedly busy week at the Allen household. My mom came for a spontaneous three day visit in the middle of the week, Alex has been riding his bike like a madman, Jackson started puppy class, I have been busy doing things around the house and planning trips and parties {rough life} and dealing with our little maniac.

Jack man's new favorite sleeping spot: the shower!
Jack man’s new favorite sleeping spot: the shower!

Jackson is doing great – he is now 11 weeks old and weighs over 18 pounds. He had his second round of shots on Wednesday, so mid-week next week he’ll be able to go to parks and engage with other dogs. Biting anything and everything continues to be Jackson’s favorite pastime – his new favorite thing to chew is our seagrass chair in the living room or the tile in the shower.

Riding in the back of the car like a good puppy!
Riding in the back of the car like a good puppy!

 

We are doing a puppy play group on Monday evenings so that Jackson can spend time with other puppies and work on his socialization. We started this last week and found out that our little man is extremely shy and timid around other groups of dogs. We will be introducing him to as many socialization opportunities as we can over the next few weeks so that he’ll be more comfortable in those settings. Next week we have four days of socialization activities planned for Jackson. I sure hope there are other people out there who care about their puppies as much as we care about ours, otherwise I might start feeling like a crazy person for all the time and energy we devote to our little guy.

The little stinker just didn't want to stay in the back of the car and climbed over the seats...
The little stinker just didn’t want to stay in the back of the car and climbed over the seats…

Jackson has recently been granted the privilege of an expanded boundary. He is now allowed to roam around the entire upstairs. I think he has been really enjoying his new territory. He loves to sleep in the shower or on the tile floor in the bathroom and now he’s got more room to chase the cats around.

Jack and Alex hanging out in the media room together.
Jack and Alex hanging out in the media room together.

A proud puppy parent note: we are on day 19 of no accidents! I think we can stop counting that now and can safely say that our little guy is house broken.

Little Jackson is on his way to being "Big Jackson"
Little Jackson is on his way to being “Big Jackson”

My mom’s visit was very short – she arrived on Tuesday morning and left on Thursday afternoon. Since I couldn’t leave Jackson alone for more than three hours at a time we hung out close to home. My mom enjoys gardening so I thought she would be interested in helping me do some planting in our backyard. I had been meaning to get to it for a while and it was a perfect opportunity to have a helper. Stay tuned for more photos of the work we did.

Our project in progress!
Our project in progress!

I think she really enjoyed meeting Jackson! It was fun for the little guy to have a new friend to play with. And I sure enjoyed the company mid-week. It’s always nice to have visitors, and I’m glad my mom could meet Jackson.

New friend!
New friend!

We had a fun night out on Wednesday – we had dinner at Restaurant Bea and then walked across the street and had a bottle of wine at Bottlehouse. It’s so nice to have such awesome spots that are so close to us.

This was AFTER a bottle of wine plus wine at dinner...
This was AFTER a bottle of wine plus wine at dinner…

Alex has been riding his bike at least 65 miles one weekend day for the last few weeks. Last weekend he rode in the Flying Wheels race which took him on a 65 mile loop through the Cascade foothills. He said it was the most beautiful bike ride he has ever taken and plans to do this ride again next year.

Flying Wheels bike ride
Flying Wheels bike ride

In other athletic news I have been really keeping up with running and increasing my distance. My friend Sara and I ran around Lake Union yesterday, which is a 6 mile run. There are some stoplights that we had to wait for, but with those included we were at a 10:30 pace per mile. The Lake Union loop was nice and flat, which I prefer, but my run on Monday was extremely hilly, so I didn’t run as far. I have been loving my time running each week and it has been really fun to watch my progress on my Runtastic app.

Check out how far I've been running!
Check out how far I’ve been running!

 

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