VMS SPORTSFEST

It’s my daughter's school sportsfest today and though I do not usually watch their sports competitions, I opted to watch today since it will be her first performance as a member of the drum and lyre band. Here are some of her pictures when they practiced before the actual sportsfest since I wasn’t able to get close when they actually performed.

FIELDTRIP @ ENCHANTED KINGDOM

I got up early today at 3:15 am because it’s the day my daughter had been waiting for – it’s their fieldtrip to Enchanted Kingdom! After I finished fixing our baon (which I pre-cooked last night!), I woke her up and we took a bath. Then, by 4:30 I awakened the hubby so he could take us to school. Thirty minutes later, we were leaving the VMS campus and were on our way to our first stop, Kulturang Pilipino somewhere near the Luneta compound. The place is really a fun place for kids since they would get to know about Philippine dances, songs, history, artifacts and even values. It was a bit small though so the students had to come in by batches and wait for their turn at each of the rooms that showed them a bit about our culture.













Next stop was the Light and Sound museum at the Rizal park, the only problem though was that it was broad daylight so the students weren’t able to appreciate the real show. There was only a tour guide who narrated the final events of Jose Rizal’s life including the final gunshot that killed him. It was around 11 when we finally left for Nuvali where the kids (and parents) had lunch (most of us ate at the bus since it was cooler) and only went down to use the restroom, visit the tiangge and check out the rest of the place. There were many fishes which the kids had fun feeding. By 1pm, the buses rolled off to go to the main highlight of their fieldtrip – Enchanted Kingdom!







But alas! Despite all their excitement it seems these girls are not really so adventurous after all! Because they preferred to ride the more conventional rides and wouldn’t dare to take on the more exciting ones. But I did not pressure them since it’s their field trip after all and so it is their wishes that should be followed. The girls decided to go and watch RIALTO first, a 3D type of moviehouse that has moving chairs to enhance the experience that the viewers are actually not just watching the movie but in the movie itself, well, almost! The movie that was currently showing then was Happy Feet and it was truly a riveting and jolting experience but still short since it lasted all of twelve minutes and yet we waited almost an hour in line to get inside. But then, I guess we didn’t have much choice since all the other rides have the same kind of long lines. The next ride they decided on was the Up, Up and Away. Afterwards, they went on a carousel ride and then ate some snacks at the food court there. We wanted to ride the ferris wheel also but there was just no more time since we need to get back to the bus already.








I guess we wasted too much time trying to decide which ride to take; trying to find something they would all like – others want the bump car but the others don’t; some want to ride the Roller Skater – which is a mini roller coaster actually but the others don’t; even the Giant Ferris wheel and Anchor’s Away were shunned by the kids, they think it was boring! I guess the kids failed to take advantage of the ride all you can ticket that they bought. Besides, all the other rides were not allowed to them like the Rio Grande, Jungle Log Jam, Space Shuttle Max and the Extreme Tower Ride. Oh well, I guess I shouldn’t have lifted my hopes up. Maybe when my daughter is a bit older we could go back and enjoy all those other rides we failed to take. That is, if I am not yet too old to ride!

LINGGO NG WIKA @ VMS

Today I went on leave to watch my daughter’s presentation for their school’s Linggo ng Wika celebration. I gave her a bath, dressed her up and let her go with the schoolbus while I will just follow to bring her things since the program starts at 11 am. When I arrived at their school, she was anxiously waiting for me already at the gate and so I hurriedly dressed her up and made up her face before proceeding to their classroom. Then, I went down to the Grand Zenith to wait for the program to start. They performed ninth so I was unable to leave to go to the canteen and buy some food. Instead, I waited till they were finished performing before I fed her some lunch. She too can’t leave their place in line until their performance is over. I was unable to appreciate their performance this year because they used a folk dance from Bohol. In fact, even their music wasn’t something that everyone would recognize so it got a bit boring after a while. But I still stayed behind to watch all the presentations. Kaye and I left after the program ended and we went straight home, just bought ice cream at Palmera and some snacks. Here are some pictures of her and some classmates in their colorful costumes.

VMS XMAS PROGRAM

Today I took a leave of absence from work to attend my daughter’s Christmas program… she will be performing a dance number with her classmates and I want to be there to watch her. They danced to the tune of All I want for Christmas and I’m glad she danced well and was not at all shy to perform on stage. I’m glad she is starting to come out of her shell na din and is becoming more comfortable with her classmates… here are some of the pics I took, as usual I had a difficult time because the camera’s range was limited so I could only take pictures of her while she was still near me…the place was a bit crowded and stuffy so I could not venture near the stage. Maybe, when we get a better camera I would be able to take better pictures…hehehe. I wish I could post the video na lang, which was a bit clearer…but I really don’t know how.

KIDS’ FIELDTRIPS

For this year, the kids went to Mt. Samat in Bataan for their fieldtrip. Kit’s class went ahead this time on November 23 while Kaye’s class had theirs on December 14. I decided to go with Kaye though there wasn’t much pretty places to visit this was because I haven’t been to Mt. Samat’s cross in Bataan… I know, I know it’s a common site for field trips since time immemorial but I guess I was absent that year. So I decided to join her ... besides there was an added ‘shopping spree’ at Clark after the kids had visited a museum so that’s another incentive for me to go huh! I let Keith borrow the old camera for him to use but it seems he is not really into taking pics, he would just rather have his pics taken with his friends using their cameras…so he just had a few pics when he came back. In fact, most of his pics were landscapes or trees or taken inside the bus… expectedly, he wasn’t in any of them so that is why he opted to just join in other people’s kodakan!

Kaye, on the other hand, had lots and lots of pics because I was with her and so she had an official photographer. Her fieldtrip started with the visit to Mt. Samat…we spent lots of time there because only a few at a time are allowed to go up all the way to the cross so the students with their parents/teachers/guardians had to go up by batches. After we had our fill of the view, the strong wind up on the cross and of picture-taking, we wandered around the grounds of Mt. Samat and also visited their museum.

After Mt. Samat, the kids had fun in the Clark Airfield playground (the one we went to with Adrian and Budong) and this is where we had our lunch seated on the grass like a picnic. But I guess the highlight of the trip for Kaye is the visit to Feliz Cidade, a mini carnival / theme park with lots of kiddie rides like Star City. It was located in Mabalacat, Pampanga. We spent the rest of the afternoon there and left only when it was a bit dark already outside. We bought some dinner to eat during the bus ride because it would be quite late when we got home to San Jose…Kaye slept most of the ride home and I guess I am just happy that she is happy and that we were able to spend some time together because soon enough when she is a bit older, she will have her friends to go with …so I have to treasure moments like this that we still spend together.