Hurccation!

What?  It's a word.  Or at the very least, it's a word around here.  They call them "forced vacations", when a hurricane is headed straight for you and you decide you need to leave.

A couple of weeks before hurricane Isaac made an appearance in the news, we had the feeling we should get our 72 hour kits assembled and start building our food storage.  And boy were we glad we did.  We hadn't planned on evacuating.  So I spent all of Monday before the storm getting extra water, cooking all of the meat in our freezer so that we could just re-heat things on the grill, and getting our 72-hour kits ready to go just in case.  Brandon got home from work and we loaded up the car just in case we had to leave fast.  As we started talking through how we would get through the next few days (with the TV on in the background), we heard the weather man say that they were upgrading the storm and expecting several days and possibly weeks without power.  They also said that highways would be closing down within the next few hours, so if you're going to evacuate...do it now (basically).  We immediately said a prayer and knew we should go.

It was a crazy 20 minutes or so of getting the baby and myself ready while Brandon finished packing the car.  I don't know if I'll ever forget the feeling of closing the door and seeing all of our things, thinking that it all might destroyed when we returned.  We all know that didn't happen and I couldn't be more thrilled, but in that moment it was a possibility and I was shocked at how much I didn't care.  I just wanted to get my family out of harms way.  A few minutes into the drive we decided that we should just make the best of this "forced vacation" and go visit Brandon's family.  Genni could see her cousins and we could wait out the storm with family.  Best decision ever, we had so much fun!

We decided to break up the return trip and stopped in Atlanta to see more family.

From crawling to SPRINTING!

Or maybe that's just what it feels like from my point of view.  The first week of August Genevieve decided it was time to really keep me on my toes and started walking everywhere.

When evening approaches, anytime a car door slams somewhere close by, she runs to the window and waits for her dad.  So cute...and so sad when it turns out that he's not actually home yet.

Picking flowers.

Contemplating eating the flower that she just picked.

Drinking yogurt is really much better than using a spoon.

Our towels double as capes.  She desperately tries to escape with just her towel on.

The girl who hates wearing headbands and has refused to do so since day 1, found this baby hat and LOVES to wear it.  Funny girl.

Grandma "M" gave her these dolls and she loves them!  When she starts playing with one, she'll usually look for the other to join in.

July

I really don't have a lot to say about July, except that Genni grew like a weed and that the heat was nearly unbearable.  Luckily we joined a gym...it's a magical place, with swimming pools and childcare.  When we left North Carolina at the end of June, Genevieve was taking a step or two on her own.  After about a week, she increased that to 5-7 steps and there she stayed for about another month.

I really didn't mind her waiting to take the plunge though.  Almost every time I pick her up from the child care at the gym, one of the workers comments on how cute (they're smart enough to mention that first) and exhausting she is.  I hear the term "too big for her britches" at least once a week.  Which makes me feel a lot better about the condition that Brandon regularly finds the house (and his wife for that matter) when he gets home.  That being said, I love that we have such an independent, full of energy, determined little girl.  She is scared of very little and is constantly trying to accomplish something.  One day she decided it was time to stand up from the middle of the floor instead of using furniture.  I am not exaggerating when I say that she spent 20 minutes working on it until she figured it out.  She can be very focused when she wants to be.

And that's July.  On to more exciting things, like August (which was equally as sweltering) and hurricanes!

June

June was amazing.  Mostly because we got to go on vacation!  We went to North Carolina for about 10 days, spending a couple of days in the mountains and about a week at the beach.  I really love this aspect of North Carolina.  The mountains aren't exactly the Rockies, but they are very pretty in their own way and the beaches are next to perfect.  This was a much anticipated vacation that was everything we were hoping it would be.  Brandon and I hadn't ever really celebrated our anniversary before.  So this year we treated ourselves to a couple of days at a B&B in the mountains.  We had wanted to "escape", but I was surprised at how much of an escape we were talking about.  The place we stayed at had no TV, no phones, no cell phone service, no internet.  It was just us and nature and we loved it.  We spent one day riding bikes on the Virginia Creeper Trail and the rest of the time reading books and hanging out in the perfect weather (it was 70 degrees most of the time we were there...a big change coming from New Orleans).  Warning: There are a  LOT of pictures of this trip.

I stole Brandon's shirt when I went in from the beach...which really left him with no other option than to wear my cover-up.

Brandon's Grandma Davis with all of her great-granddaughters.   Look at all of those girls!  Marcy and the twins were born about one week apart and Genevieve came about 2 months later.  She had a lot of fun playing with them!

She loved the water...wasn't too crazy about the sand though.

Aquarium!!!  Genni was SO cute.  She kept trying to grab the fish.  When she realized she couldn't, she would follow them on the outside with her finger.

Maybe they look better sideways?

We discovered that the floaties could double as walkers in the baby pool, and life became a lot easier for this mom.

Learning to share.

Her first (and last) attempt at eating sand...like I said, she wasn't a fan.

But look at how happy she is to be getting in the water!

Farewell North Carolina...back to sweltering New Orleans. 

Thank you Lisa and Grandma for the new doll!  It has barely left her side all day...she loves it!

Videos for Grandma "M"

While my mom is in New York for the month of July, she has no access to Skype and is missing little Genevieve terribly.  So I'm posting several videos of Genni to get her through until we can chat on the computer again.  Love you Mom :)