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!

Dana's Recognition Day 2012

March 23, 2012

It's Dana's turn for celebrating the end of the school year with their Recognition Day.  As usual, she's part of the Top 10 in her class and I'm really proud of her for moving 2 steps up at the last minute :)  We've all had a  crazy year before and it showed in her school grades during the early months.  Though I don't really push her into getting medals and such, it's a relief to me that she's pursuing it on her own.  :)

What's really special about this year's recognition day is the fact that Dana really wanted her Daddy to be the one to go up on the stage with her.  When her teacher asked who she was going with, she specifically mentioned her Daddy.  When I asked her "Why not me?", she answered, "Well Mama, you've been the one going up on the stage with me for the past years.  I wanted Daddy to be with me this time."  That made me smile.  Patrick beamed when he heard that :)

After the ceremony,we all trooped to Robinson's Otis and ate at Tokyo Tokyo.  Dana wanted to feast on Ebi Tempura so that's what we bought :)

Her Daddy couldn't help himself.  He had to imitate Dana's favorite pose when she was smaller.  Funny, isn't it? hehe

Because her parents are too funny, it's no wonder she has the same sense of humor.  It's also too obvious that she is loved :)

Dylan's Kindergarten Field Trip

Sept. 14, 2011 - It's that time once again when Dylan sets off on another field trip.  This time they're heading to Lucky Me (the noodle factory), Paradizoo (an animal farm/zoo) and Tagaytay Picnic Grove (for rest and relaxation).  As you can see, Dylan is excited to be on their way.  

Their first stop was the Lucky Me Noodle Factory but we weren't allowed to take pictures because of security reasons.  This part of the trip would have been more interesting if we had more time to really listen to the tour.  Instead, the tour went by so fast it was like the staff were more interested in just breezing through with their spiels and such.  The kids couldn't really pay attention and they can't really see over the windows in the factory.  I had to really focus to hear the tour guide explain the process of making the noodles and packing them and such.  In turn, it was I who had to explain to Dylan.  I guess there were a lot of schools scheduled too so they had to hurry us up.  This was the only photo allowed, taken by their staff after a quick run through of the factory.  

After the Lucky Me Factory, we went to Paradizoo Ranch in Mendez, Cavite.  There were a lot of chances for taking pictures because there were a number of different animals that Dylan went a little crazy going after them :)  There was a white carabao, a black carabao, a camel, horses, foreign goats and sheep, butterflies and bees.  Here are some pictures. It was raining hard some of the time which was hard for the kids but it was otherwise a fun trip.  

The last stop was the Tagaytay Picnic Grove.  This was where we had our lunch overlooking Taal Volcano. The kids breezed through their lunch and just ran around in the grass.  Dylan was also fortunate to have been able to ride a horse.  One of his classmates who originally bought the ticket became scared of the horse so he backed out.  Dylan was given the ticket instead :)  Thanks! :D

 Needless to say, all the kids were tired and pooped out during the drive home :)

Dana's Grade II Field Trip

One of the activities that Dana really looks forward to during a school year is the Field Trip.  This year, the whole school all went to Batis Aramin in Lucban, Quezon.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go with her because of all the stress that I was in which caused me endless migraines and hyperacidity.  I wasn't really fit to travel.  So, she went with her Ate Mel instead.




Here are her pics.  Above, on the left, she's on the bus going to the destination.  They experienced some trouble before departing because the buses got delayed and they arrived rather late.  But nothing can dampen their spirits especially when they saw the place.  They had time to swim, ride the zip line, go around the replica of Noah's ark and go climb the really steep and really high Kamay ni Hesus, which was sort of like a lifelike Way of the Cross.  After changing and resting a bit, you'll see how happy she was on the above right picture.

To the right, she's trying out this rope obstacle course.  She really loved it.  On the right, she's here at the base of the entrance to the hotel.   It's such a huge place that it was disappointing they never got around to really exploring every nook and cranny.


Meanwhile, here's a video of her on the zipline.  Can you hear her scream? LOL

Dylan's Moving Up Day

We have reached another milestone in Dylan's life - his Moving Up Ceremony.  It's really such an achievement for him because he has to work really hard at it because of his speech impairment.  However, he has improved a lot - he's much more articulate now, he can keep up with the conversation and contribute to it, he can sing clearly and he can write some of his favorite letters and numbers.  I owe it all to his teachers in Little Sofie and to his teachers at Core Skills.  He still has a long way to go and we need all the help that we can get :)


His Moving Up Ceremony was held at the San Beda Conference Hall (the teachers at Little Sofie all come from San Beda so they have a special arrangement with them).   Everyone looked so cute with their long-sleeved shirts and well-brushed hair :)  and the girls in their "gowns" (yes, there were some students who actually wore ball gowns!) I was rather disappointed in some of the parents that didn't treat the ceremony with the formality that it deserved.  Some wore ultra-mini skirts that the moment they went up on stage to place the medals on their kids, everyone was "treated" to a sight that they didn't want to see...  uggh.. I think that parents also need to be behaved during ceremonies like this.  The kids were well-behaved but the parents were becoming unruly trying to get pictures of their kids.  It's understandable that they want to preserve the moment, but the fact is, they were becoming disruptive and the ceremony was turning into chaos because of them.. hmm..








I do commend Ms. Shiela, Teacher Dory, Teacher Karen, Teacher Kat and Teacher Del for all their hard work in their preparations.  They all looked very beautiful too! :)








Dylan got the Most Polite and Most Cheerful awards! hahaha After the event, we went to JT's Manukan Grille for some much needed lunch :)