M-i-c-k-e-y M-o-u-s-e

What a slacker! I am WAY overdue for some updates. We've been quite the busy bees lately. October came and went...we took our first extended vacation as a family of 4! We've taken weekend trips here and there but this was far more extensive. And what better place to go then the happiest place on earth! Bella was on cloud 9 to say the least! Abbey could have done without riding in the stroller for two days straight, but enjoyed the rides and was compliant under the circumstances.

Seeing as the weather was BEAUTIFUL and near perfect, we also decided to venture over to the west coast of FL for some beach time. Spent two full days in Clearwater. The beach was covered in sea shells! Another dream come true for both girls! Was nice to be at the beach in the middle of October! Also, the picture with Bella...she had a VERY large dragon fly that kept wanting to hang out with her.

Obedience

We have tried a variety to disciplines and techniques to help Bella learn obedience. To say the least, very little works. Some time ago we tried a sticker chart without much success. Recently we thought we'd give it another go. So what we thought it would take a week or two, ended up taking almost a month to accomplish, but she was determined to earn all her stickers. We told her when all the spaces were full we could go to Wal-Mart and purchase a toy with her sticker page.

When it came time to chose a toy I told her some toys cost 1 page, 2 pages, and even a 3 page sticker toy! She had the choice to hold onto it or "spend" it now. Of course she had to spend it! We are very proud of her as she has taken a step forward with some incentive to obey and want to make the right choices!

Way to go Bella!

**note post blog...I did not know (but Bella did) this toy comes with treats to feed the dog, then you push his tail and he poops them out! Oy Vey!! Guess I'll look a little closer at the next toy.**

A Fair to Remember

Fair Admission: $25
Cost of Tickets: $20
2 Soda's: $6
Parking: $7
2 small Icees: $6
Scoop of blue ice cream: $4

Riding ALL the rides with your 4 year old: Priceless

*But who knew after a few years and few kids later all that spinning would make ya sick now...whew!



















The swings was one of her favorites...we did this one a few times. oy vey!






Abbey was not too happy about having to sit and watch all the fun. Believe me...can't with til she's 42"! Grow Grow Grow Grow!!!

Bella took this picture of the ferris wheel...pretty good shot!

And, uh, I'll let you take one guess at what has happened in this picture???

Where oh where oh where is Abbey?

So, one might wonder...what do we do without Bella at home now!? Well, Abbey has been coming in and takes off for her bedroom to play with her toys...by HERSELF! The other day I was finishing off the dishes and could hear her singing softly in her room, quite cherub like I might add. And so I went to investigate and listen without being seen. Well I got to her room and didn't see her in it, but could hear her. As she heard me make a noise, so began our new game...where oh where oh where is Abbey.

This first photo demonstrates how sufficiently she can now open her closet doors and hide inside. Somehow she gets it shut all the way without pinching those little hands.




And then she throws the door open, giggles and says Boo! And then we repeat of course!

After a few rounds of that...it's time for a snack and a break for one of her favorite shows...the Backyardigans.

1st day of Kindergraten

It's official, we are the proud parents of a Kindergartner! Jorge stayed home the extra day so we could see her through her first day. The night before she picked out her clothes to wear..note the purse as well.

She was pretty excited to get in there and check everything out...Abbey made herself at home as well. Of course she came home and we asked...did you have snack, go outside, color, listen to a story, learn the new rules, etc etc etc. All of which she said no to. So I then asked...basically, you didn't do anything at your new school today huh? Nope! I actually had to find out at the bus stop this morning from another mom all the fun things they did! Go figure!

She rode the bus her 2nd day of school. On the way to the bus stop I told her I wanted to take a picture of her getting on the bus and she said ok...then said, uh, no, maybe not. What!? Deny your mother a photographic moment! No way! Told her I was going to anyways! So this look is the "if you must humiliate me in front of ALL these people" look. Oy Vey...I am becoming my mother! (she was a picture freak!)

Also on the way home from her 1st day of school we stopped for cider and donuts...a fun new tradition perhaps!

All in all, so far so good! And so begins a new journey in the Flores family!

Pachelbel Bedtime

Anyone relate???

A little piece of Mexico

Last month we hosted Carolina in our home for a week. She was here to improve on her English skills. Seeing as I speak Spanish, I am not sure how much she actually "learned" but it sure was fun getting to know her. To start, we dragged her along to our church VBS and put her to work all week. What a trooper she was! Below are some pictures of our fun experiences with her.

We took her to Great Lakes mall and she kept saying, "I LOVE this mall!" We had a fun dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe as well.

Our next adventure took us to the zoo! We included her younger sister Valerie and enjoyed getting to know her too. They thought the Polar Bear and Kangaroo exhibit were pretty cool. In case you haven't been...you can walk through the kangaroo exhibit on a trail...very up close and personal!

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and look forward to having them back again sometime!

Carolina, in case you are reading this...Le Faltamos!

Niagara Falls

This past weekend we decided to take some family time over at the falls. The weather was in the mid 70's...making it perfect for a little getaway. And what would a trip to the falls be without a ride on the "Maid of the Mist".

Bella thought it was pretty funny that we asked her to put on a blue "trash bag". Of course she was happy we did after we got up close and personal with the falls.

Our next fun adventure was on the AeroCar that rides over part of the Niagara River...Bella thought were were "flying" over the water.

The highlight of our trip was our ride on the ferris wheel. Both Abbey and Bella throughly enjoyed this.

Happy 4th

Our neighboring city puts on a very large firwork display and have made this an annual family tradition. This year we enjoyed a get together at our friends and then all 60 or so of us walked down to the park to enjoy and met up with some others.

Despite Abbey's unwanting to participate in a family photo, she throughly enjoyed the display...in fact as soon as it was done, she said, mas, mas (more).

Bella almost immediately found a four legged friend and thanks to Auntie Chrystal, Bella kissed her friendly frog to see if he would turn into a prince! Ewww! After she kissed it she said, nope, no prince!

Zoo Daze!

We decided to invest in a zoo pass this year. We figured two family trips would cost us about the same, now we can make multiple trips and fun memories all summer. Here are a few pics from our first two trips!

My two favorite monkey's!

Jorge always teases me that we can't go in public without running into at least one person we know...at the zoo we ran into our friends Miss Kara, Miss Megan, Noah, Poem, and Valor!