Kids: Dylan's 2012 Field Trip - Part 3 - Casa Santa Jardin de Miramar

September 22, 2012

Now, we've come to the last part in Dylan's Field Trip.  We've saved the best for last because our last destination was the Casa Santa in Jardin de Miramar in San Isidro, Antipolo City.  It was funny because going there our buses could hardly fit on the road and they had a hard time making it through the curves.  It's the right time to visit Casa Santa seeing as it's now the start of the "BER" months and Christmas is just around the corner.  When we arrived, we spent our time eating our lunch at the great garden while waiting for the puppet show to be set up.

I just had a beef to settle with some of the parents during the trip.  We were expressly told to bring packed lunches and I even woke up pretty early to manage that.  Well, what do you know?  Along the way, we had to wait for these parents to BUY their lunches from the Jollibee store we passed and it took a while so those of us who actually followed the rules had little time to eat!! grr!  I could understand that the administration of the school wanted to please everyone but really, you have to stick to the rules because it's unfair to those of us who followed them.. okay so back to your regular programming...

The puppet show was a hit with the kids who had been recharged since everyone has just had their lunch.  Their excitement was contagious and their happiness was boundless.  Picture taking after the puppet show had to be contained because everyone wanted to be the first.  Fortunately, Dylan was among the first.

After the puppet show, we had some time to burn because another tour group which was ahead of us are still in the Casa Santa so we were told we can explore the whole place until it was time for us to go in.  So, Dylan and I just took our time walking around the vast garden.  Honestly, it was such a restful place because of all the greenery.  We were content to remain outside :)

Check out the pictures we took in this slideshow:

Now, if you viewed the slideshow, you may have seen excerpts of Santa's house.  Casa Santa really is a small house full of Santa and Christmas-related artifacts.  It's like being transported to the North Pole and you kinda expect elves to come out and show you around.  The house itself is pretty small so if your tour group is a bit large, you may have difficulty going around all at the same time, which is why they segregate the groups to accommodate just the right amount of people inside.  Dylan particularly liked the Star Wars Christmas toys they had on display. :)

We took our time going around since we were the last tour group for the day.  There was so much to see although you have to be careful of the little items on display and some are really fragile.  That was a problem with some of the kids whose "energy" couldn't be contained and they had to be escorted out hehehe

From here, we visited the Antipolo Church on the way home and we took time to buy "pasalubong" like cashew nuts and suman.

That was such a fitting end to a really tiring but fun day.  This is one reason why I love going on educational field trips with my kids.  I, too, learn so much from it and it's a great bonding moment for all of us because we all take away precious memories from them.

Kids: Dylan's 2012 Field Trip - Part 2 - Dolljoy Museum

September 22, 2012

Now we come to the 2nd Part of Dylan's Educational Field Trip.  To see what happened during the first part, check out this post.  For the 2nd part, we all proceeded to the Dolljoy Gallery and Museum in Caniogan, Pasig to see how dolls and stuffed toys are made.  They have different collections of  dolls and stuffed toys which everyone loved taking pictures with and the first part of the tour involved everyone walking through their exhibits.  Check out this giant panda that Dylan's hugging :)


Apart from the exhibits, the kids were asked to participate in a "Dress your own Doll" activity.  Boys were given male soldier dolls to put together and Dylan enjoyed this activity :)

This was a fun activity because it was timed so the kids were really excited and were racing to finish dressing up their respective dolls.

Continuing with the tour, our next destination was the simulation room where you get to see a sampling of what goes on in the making of dolls.  Everyone saw where they made the hair and how it was styled for a specific doll and how they painted the faces on.  Imagine all the work that goes into one doll.  Everything was hand-painted by these artists.  We even saw how they put the stuffing into the stuffed toys!

Since we took a lot of pictures, I just put them together in a slideshow so you can see the other dolls in their collections.

Our last stop was at the Casa Santa at Jardin de Miramar.

Kids: Dylan's 2012 Field Trip - Part 1 - Meralco Museum

September 22, 2012

Today, it is Dylan's 2012 Field Trip.  Though it was hard for him to wake up so early, once he found out that today was his field trip, he got up in no time at all.  They were going to have a full day ahead so it was essential to start out early.  The assembly time was at 630 AM and the first stop was going to be at the Meralco Museum.  Here he is in the bus looking a little sleepy and there we are at the parking lot of Meralco in Ortigas.  Apparently, we arrived early and they were still setting up.  That was T. Karen with us.

I honestly didn't have any idea what to expect when we got inside.  But, I wasn't disappointed.  There was a lot you can learn about electricity and the history of Meralco (which they showed through a film showing although I don't think the kids have any appreciation for that).  The kids loved the interactive parts of the museum, like where they can hop on and off on the tram, generating power through manipulation of the exhibits and turning the light switches on and off.

The highlight for Dylan was being able to ride in the Meralco bucket truck.  He also loved taking pictures with the huge trucks around the parking lot :)

Here are some of the pictures we took while we were there.

After the Meralco Museum, we all proceeded to the Dolljoy Museum in Pasig see next post.

Cars: Hyundai Lateral Drift

September 08, 2012

Today's event is the Hyundai Lateral Drift challenge held at the Luneta Grandstand.  When Patrick mentions that he's going to an event and that we may tag along, we don't usually question what goes on and we just find out when we get there.

To our surprise, the event was about cars fighting for the top spot in Drifting.  We were aware that there's a rapidly growing car drifting fan base in the Philippines having attended several of these competitions in Greenhills and Eastwood.  So, it was nice that it was held at the Luneta Grandstand because at least you can actually see the cars drifting and yet be far away enough to be out of danger in case the cars spins out of control.

While waiting for the event to start, guests were treated to a buffet.  Dana really enjoyed eating their nachos and ordinarily she would ask one of us to accompany her to the buffet table, but in this instance, she kept going back by herself which just goes to prove that she loved the nachos so much she was able to overcome her shyness.  I think she went back three times! :)

Dylan on the other hand was more interested in watching the cars drifting than in eating.  It was thrilling but it felt painful to watch when one of them makes a mistake costing them their position in the running. There was one that ended up scraping his car on the sidewalk! Ouch!

After, there was a drifting exhibition showing off the new Genesis Coupe.  The cars were driven by Atoy Llave and Gio Rodriguez.   You can find the video from Top Gear Philippines here.

 

Kids: Dana's 2012 Field Trip Part 2 - Zoobic Safari

September 02, 2012

After an entertaining day at the Ocean Adventure (see previous post), the 2nd half of the field trip was devoted to Zoobic Safari, a 25-hectare amusement park with a variety of animals and activities, complete with tour guides to assist you on your way.  

Dana and I were both excited to be here since this will be our first time to see what they have in store for us.  

At this point, even though we've been trudging on for half a day, our energy still hasn't waned.

The first thing that happened was each bus/vehicle that comes through the gate gets assigned a tour group and a tour guide.  You will then follow instructions mandated by the tour guide to keep everything organized.  Our first stop was an introduction to all the animals that you'll see in the park.  We were asked to sit on bleachers while the host explained what Zoobic Safari was all about.  Then came the animals.  Everyone was so excited!  My fear was kids may fall off from the bleachers because we were so high up.  There were a number of tour groups that day.  This slideshow sums up the animals that went on parade.

Our next stop was the Serpentarium behind the bleachers.  I don't know if it was just me but it was rather scary.. It was dim and musky (which is what cold-blooded creatures love) but they do have a great collection of animals that you can't see anywhere else, like the skink and the albino python.  

After a chilling walk through the Serpentarium (Dana and I aren't fans of reptiles), we were led to the aviary, which was kind of reminiscent of the aviary in Jurassic Park III.  We entered a wide cage and you can walk among the birds inside.  Some of them were still in cages though, especially the small ones.  There was a portion there where the kids can feed the birds, I think it was P10 or P20 per a handful of seeds.  I wasn't able to take a decent phot because the birds lapped up those seeds in a second! :) Dana said that although she was a bit scared at first, it was fun because it tickled :)

We kept on walking some more, not sure when we left the aviary though, because if you didn't pay attention, you may just find yourself in a different tour group.  Anyway, we saw a bear cat, a camel and a full-grown lion whose roars and growls you can hear from afar.  It was chilling because it was so deep and primal.  I think he was antsy because he kept walking around near one of the lionesses in the cage.

Then on to the highlights of this field trip - Feeding the tigers from an enclosed vehicle at close range.  This was one part of the trip that I was really looking forward too.  Dana was excited and scared at the same time.  To feed the tigers, you need to purchase chickens from them.  Since there was only a limited number of passengers per jeep, parents just paired off and we all pitched in to buy enough chickens.  As soon as we boarded the jeep, the kids couldn't stop screaming even though the tigers weren't visible yet!  

Once they came out, one pounced on top of the vehicle and ate a chicken that was conveniently placed there.  It was hard to take pictures because the roof was frosted (or just dirty).  Once the tigers moved to the sides of the jeep, you can practically hear everyone's heart pounding.  These guys were huge and can snap your head clean off and they snapped those chickens in a jiffy.  But these tigers were used to being fed this way.  They weren't like "attacking" the jeep or anything like that.  So maybe it was kind of a letdown for me because they seemed tame hehehe

What gave me such a scare was when we stopped at a warehouse type of building where there more tigers in cages.  I think they called this "A walk on the wild side".  You walk next to these cages and your path is about half a meter wide so you're really, really close to the tigers.  You have to watch out because they can spray you with their pee to mark their territory.  You can literally touch them if you dare!  This white tiger was at the end of the building.  It was such an adventure!  The other parents didn't want to go inside and they missed out on a lot :)

The tour guide mentioned that there was another lion at the far end of the building because his cage was being renovated.  You can hear the growls and roars too.  

Next stop was the Croco Loco, which you can probably assume that it's going to be plenty of crocodiles.  Well, you guessed right! :) They were huge !!  The way they made the pens was that you were actually walking on top of the crocodiles, on steel and iron bars and fences.  So, you're looking down on them and from the sides.  One parent even made a disbelieving comment, "Totoo ba yan?", roughly translated to "Are they real?" because the crocodiles were just lying there with their mouths open.  Until one of them made a move and everything went haywire hahahaha  When the big one suddenly moved, all the small ones scampered off and all the parents who were looking at them at close range suddenly scampered back too and started screaming LOL  Too bad I didn't have a video of that LOL

The last stop of the tour was where they put together the bones of the animals who died.  It's kind of like a Fossil/Bone museum.  The fur of the Bengal Tiger was very smooth to the touch and if you imagine it, alive and breathing, it really was a magnificent animal.  

So that was Dana's Subic Field Trip.  I hope you had a good time reading through the posts, looking at the pictures and reminiscing with us.

Kids: Dana's 2012 Field Trip - Part 1 Ocean Adventure

September 02, 2012

After a hectic week preparing for Dylan's Linggo ng Wika, September 2 dawned very, very early for me since Dana and I had to get ready for her Field Trip and we were supposed to be at her school by 530AM. I barely had any sleep but parents really trudge on for the love of their kids :)

Their field trip this year was held at the Ocean Adventure and the Zoobic Safari. Since we've been to Ocean Adventure before, Dana wasn't as excited about it but I told her that there may be new exhibits or added attractions that she may find entertaining and educational.  We weren't disappointed.  

The tour at Ocean Adventure started with the Walk on the Wild Side exhibit where the kids were taught about forest and domesticated animals.  Then there was a new attraction called the "African Balancing Act" which features African men performing wild acrobatic balancing acts.  The kids loved it!  The highlight for Dana was after the show when the kids were given a chance to have their pictures taken with the performers.  One of them picked her up for the shot! :) Was she surprised! :P  It was such a memorable event for her! :D

The next stop was lunch which was part of the tour package.  After that, we went directly to the Sea Lion Marine Patrol Show.  The venue was also new and featured a new pool for the sea lions to play in.  Expect to get a little wet since the seats are close to the pool, but it's fun!  The only drawback was that the light will mostly be in your way when you take pictures but other than that, it was entertaining.

With the Sea Marine Patrol show over, we all proceeded to the Dolphin Show.  It was rather hot where we were seated and you're not allowed to open any umbrellas because you'll be obstructing the view of the people above you.  It was a good thing that Dana had a light sweater and she wore the hood on her head (she's prone to nose bleeds from the heat).  I was able to great pictures of the dolphins though :)

The final leg of the tour was at the Ocean Adventure Aquarium where there are displays of various type of fish indigenous to Subic Bay and the South China Sea.

After coming out of the aquarium, there was a bit of rest period so kids can either eat some snacks or just while the time away.

Meanwhile, you can take a look at these slides to show you more pictures taken during the Field Trip.  The first presentation is mostly of Dana :)  The 2nd presentation is all about the animals of Subic.

Enjoy!