The Genet Family Blog

This is Maggie...the newest member of our family. She is a pug that we rescued from Pug Rescue of N.C. She is wonderful and is the sweetest lap dog! She is 6 years old, and seems to be enjoying us as well. :)

For the 4th of July..we were invited to my brother and his family's house for dinner and fireworks! I decided to make a cherry pie (first time ever)...and below is the result. Everyone said it tasted great! Paul has already asked me to make another so I guess that's a good sign! :)

We had a great time! I wish I wouldve taken more pictures though. I totally forgot about it until we were outside for fireworks. We had to leave early because Paul works 3rd shift and had to go..but we did get to enjoy 20 min or so of them.

(The light on Gracie's head is glasses that light up and blink)

Me (with my ghostly complexion), Gracie, and Miss Mary Catherine (my niece). :)

Jai, enjoying the show!

This is the only halfway decent shot I got of the fireworks. :( The camera was acting up and taking forever to recharge the flash. Oh well...I'm sure you all saw some nice ones!

On Tuesday a.m, Paul came home and suggested that we go to pick some fruit at an orchard. I rushed to the computer to find a local orchard that would be fun for the kiddos and us as well. I found one about 40 min. away that had been featured in Southern Living Magazine, called Levening Orchards. Paul punched it in the GPS and we were off. About 20 min. later, we arrived in Ararat. The Orchard was supposed to be in Ararat, VA...but arriving at the local post office, I was informed that we were in Ararat, NC..not Ararat, VA. I felt like quite an idiot. So, we hopped in the car, re-entered Ararat, VA in the GPS (that's ok Paul...you're not entirely to blame..I should have checked behind you). We arrived about 1 1/2 hrs. later. :( We had several difficulties finding it..but we made it! The road that we came in on was extremely bumpy, curvy, and full of holes. We only have a 2wd vehicle so it was tough navigating around those roads. We got stuck a couple of times...and slid a time or two down the gravel. It was very stressful. Gracie was in the backseat about to have a nervous breakdown..and that of course added to my stress. Ugh..it was quite an adventure. We finally pulled over and got out to pick some cherries. Paul did all of the climbing. The ladders were set up around each tree, and it looked so neat. I took a few pictures of it all. Gracie complained from the get-go. She was too hot..or it was too steep, too many bugs, too many pictures, etc. We heard the complaints from the time we got there until we left. I thought it would be a fun adventure for her...but she is definitely not made for labor in the hot sun! It definitely made us appreciate the cherry picking process quite a bit more..and we can understand the high cherry prices. It is quite a bit of work! Paul picked for about an hour or so...and well...you can see how full our bucket was. :)