Sunday, March 1, 2015

Rhian’s First Field Trip


           My husband and I are always supportive of Rhian’s academic and non-academic pursuits.  As a part of our parenting duty we have divided school duties and responsibilities. My part is to be Rhian’s companion for her school activities and to be her assistant in her daily school task. My husband on the other hand is in charge of Rhian’s experiential learning, including that of her social development.

         So for field trips, my husband is suppose to be the one in charge, however, we decided to both accompany our daughter since it is her first educational field trip. Apart from that, they both can’t bear to have some fun without me.

             To prepare for the trip we planned our baon and the things that we need for the trip. Here is our brief itinerary:

1.       Science Centrum in Marikina
2.       Mabini Shrine in PUP
3.       MMDA Children’s Park in Manila
4.       Enchanted Kingdom in Sta. Rosa, Laguna


             As a part of the preparation we checked the places online. It would be best to orient Rhian beforehand so that she will have the time to enjoy her first field trip.

            The most important preparation would be the food/baon for the trip. The day before, I had some Jollibee ChickeJoy delivered for our lunch. For our dinner I prepared some liempo which will be pan grilled at dawn before we leave for the trip.  We originally planned to eat at SLEX but I decided to just prepare our lunch in advance, so that in case there is a long line of customers we can just eat lunch in the bus.


Chickenjoy for Lunch
Pan Grilled Liempo for Dinner


            We woke up around 4:00 AM to prepare for the day.  Unfortunately, my energy level is only about 50%. I am having some migraine attacks since the day before, but of course I cannot afford to disappoint my daughter.

Selfie at the bus before we leave for the first itinerary

           Rhian is excited for her first field trip. I bought some baon with her favorite liempo, so that when she finds the appetite to eat I can easily pull it out from our bag. As expected she ate some of it while we are on our way to our first itinerary. On the other hand, I feel like taking a nap, but I decided to stay awake for Rhian. I really hope I had more energy at that moment so that I can play more with Rhian while we are on the bus.
                    
             Nevertheless, she was happy with just me watching her during the trip. I think it is a good opportunity as well for her to create memories of her own. She spent her time making
some “kulit” moments with her classmates in the bus.

There was a designated tour guide for each bus, Rhian and the rest of the kids enjoyed it.  As for me, it was a moment to acknowledge that I have outgrown my childhood for all that I have on my mind is to steal a nap to gain some energy.

After about 30 minutes we arrived at Marikina Riverbank, to visit The Philippine Science Centrum. There are some interactive activities prepared for the kids before we are allowed to tour on our own. It was a good experience for the kids.






The Philippine Science Centrum


Interactive activity before the tour

          After the activity, I accompanied Rhian to check some of the Science concept models. She showed good sense of interest, so we will definitely spend some time to discuss more of it during our bonding moments.

Here are some of the things that she saw in Science Centrum:



The time was limited so we were not able to tour the whole area and check all the displays, but it was a good immersion for Rhian to jumpstart her interest on new concepts.

After the Science Centrum tour, the heat seemed  to have drained most of our energy, we feel like we would like to jump straight to Enchanted Kingdom. However, we still have two more places to visit. On On our way to our next destination my energy level is already down to 30%, Rhian on the other is still fully charged. She can’t sleep as we head our way to visit Mabini Shrine in PUP.


Upon arrival we are able to see some historical memorabilia of Apolinario Mabini:









Rhian cooling down in Mabini Shrine








After that, we are on to our next destination which is the MMDA Children’s Road Safety Park. It was about noon, when we arrived. The kids had a quick tour and lecture on reading traffic signs and symbols. An interactive activity was also facilitated. Rhian was attentive and participative, I think she enjoyed it.   




            

Finally, we are on our way to Enchanted Kingdom (EK). We were sleepy along the way so Rhian and I was asleep until we arrived at SLEX for the stopover. When we arrived, we called her dad to inform him that we are already at SLEX and we are on our way to get some ice cold KFC Krushers. We were so drained due to the heat and it is one good way for us to regain some energy.


Charging up with KFC Krushers


Luckily, my husband was already in SLEX when we called him so we are able to see him before we went back to the bus. We missed him even just for a short while.

Rhian and I were not hungry for lunch, all we need was an ice cold beverage to keep us going. So we decided not to eat our baon and just reserve it for later.
  
Upon arriving at Enchanted Kingdom I informed Rhian’s teacher that we will not be joining the bus on the way back to Paranaque. I have a slight fear of heights and speed so my husband needs to accompany her at EK to really maximize the fun factor of these trip.  





The magic begins.:)




We decided to go first to Dodgem, but Rhian did not meet the height requirement so we have to find another ride.


 

Then we went for UP UP and Away. It was like a hot air ballon in the air swirling round and round at a considerable speed.  My husband and Rhian set me up! They made me sit on the side where I would experience a counterclockwise spin, I had to shut my eyes to avoid the dizziness. Rhian was laughing all the way.




After that dizzy wizzy experience, we went to try Roller Skater. I experienced it already during my younger years when I went to EK’s counterpart Star City, so for these ride I was nervous but not terrified. Rhian enjoyed it so much, she was shouting so loud. It was a happy moment and definitely a good experience for us.


  


After that, we went to tour the area and decided to try SWAN Lake, but the line was long and there was no time limit so we decided to skip it and proceed to Jungle Log. Unfortunately, Rhian did not meet the height requirement so we have to skip it too.





Our next ride is The Flying Fiesta. It was good that Rhian was allowed for this ride. I decided to decline it since it was too high for me. It was also hard to capture the moment for this ride, so I just splurge by watching them enjoy the moment.






              After that we decided to take some kiddie rides and let Rhian play for a while.












There are a lot of extreme rides, but we decided not to take those yet for this EK visit, so we just took some pictures to create some memories.




Around 6:00 PM, an hour before the closing time, we decided to go for Rio Grande. While we are waiting on the line, Rhian saw one of her classmates with her mom. We decided to invite them to join us as well. We were so caught up with the thrill and excitement of this ride we forgot to take some pictures. It was indeed a wonderful experience.






While we are on our partially wet clothes, we rode the carousel to dry ourselves up. After that, we went to ride the Wheel of Fate. It was cold and windy while we are on top of the Ferris Wheel . We are also able to watch some fire dancers below. It was a good ride to end the day.











Before we head back home we devoured our "baon" in the car. We were so hungry, we ate all of it. It was a good decision to always bring some food during trips. On our way back, we decided to pick up some dessert to eat at home. I am not really a buko pie fan so we decided to buy some cassava cake along the way. It was indeed good and heavenly, we ate the whole box in just one sitting.





At home after the trip, Rhian went straight to the bed after a quick shower with Nemo on her side. My husband luckily got it for her in one of the skill games in EK, it was just right for her size – tiny and cute. :)





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