Taal Volcano Tour: Photography and Documentary by a Middle Schooler

You know how I rabidly plan weekend adventures for my kids, right? Well, my worthy opponent --the school's Saturday Club-- won this round. Pushing the envelope, they brought a busload of giddy students to... TAAL VOLCANO!
Holy Crabs, Taal Volcano has been on my list of family trips for like forever! And the school's Saturday Club beat me to it! Well, both Miro and Kenji were bubbling with excitement so I had to admit defeat and let them go. I knew they would have fun and that they were in good hands.

But... but... what about photo ops? I've always been the family's official trip photography and documentary person (my sons lovingly call me 'The Memory Keeper' --yeah, I'm proud of that title). Apparently, I can be replaced in that area, too. Miro, armed with his father's camphone, was unstoppable!

So for now, I'm taking a step back, and letting Miro do the blogging.
Presenting the Taal Volcano Tour!

Neat, huh? Looks like my son can replace me as a blogger, too. :P

Parenting Tip: If you can trust your child with a camphone --and if the school will allow it-- let him carry one for his field trips. For a change, get a whole new perspective on things through his eyes and words. It will definitely be, as they say, epic!

Dough It Yourself

When I was a little girl, a standard field trip would mean going to the Manila Zoo, the Planetarium, and some food factory where we were exposed to how the food we liked were made.  It was all about seeing and believing.

My boys had their field trip early this week.  It was to the Science Discovery Center, the Mall of Asia Skating Rink, and to the Greenwich Pizza Parlor.  The big difference:  both Miro and Kenji were not only exposed --they were allowed to experience.  Every stop was completely hands-on.  It was all about seeing, doing, and understanding.

I made the IDs.  But the aprons were authentic give-aways.

On today's post, I'm focusing on Greenwich which not only gave the school a kitchen tour, a pizza lecture, and a bunch of games and prizes --but actually had the kids make their own pizzas as well!  It's called the Greenwich Pizza-Making Camp.  For a couple of golden hours, children were allowed to man the dough, the ingredients, and the oven (under careful supervision, of course).  Something they don't usually get to do at home.

That's a big thing for my boys.  Discovery is one thing.  But learning the ropes to an adult activity --that's empowering.  In fact, when it was time to eat their pizza creations, both decided to take theirs home to give to their Mimi and Dada.  Just so we know that today, they were honorary adult chefs... and they made pizza specially for us.  Yummy ones, too!

Ok, so Miro had to eat half of his on the trip home ("I was hungry, ok!") but we were still awfully proud. :)
Good call, Greenwich!

Death of a Volunteer Chaperone

And just like that, my tag-along mom card has been revoked.

It all started when the boys entered Primary School.  Of course, the big school have big rules that champion big boy independence.  So the kids who used to cling to my leg during a field trip are now more than glad to ditch me for their school outings.

I'm proud of them, seeing how they've grown physically, mentally, and emotionally.  But I can't help but feel left out (literally and figuratively).  Now I can't be around to lug their heavy back packs, or wipe sweat off their brows, or chase after them when they stand too close to the edge of the crocodile pen.  Just like what I used to do when they were in preschool.  Now, that's what the whole clan of reliable primary teachers and aides are there for.

I can't help but be a little paranoid, too.  The venue is a remote area 2 hours away.  There ARE a lot of students in a class.  What if Kenji darts off when the teacher isn't looking?  What if Miro gets sidetracked by an interesting iguana and falls behind the tour line?  What if they get lost???
I should really stop watching Criminal Minds.

I've been fighting myself from picking up my phone and calling the teachers, just to know if the boys are ok.  To do that would be embarrassing, right?

Soooo... all an ex-chaperone can do is wait.  Wait.  And wait 'til they come home.
Only 3 hours to go.

Nuni-nuni-nuni...

Museo Musings

Quick!  When I say MUSEO PAMBATA --what's the first thing that comes to mind?

Not this, that's for sure.
But believe it or not, this is the first sight that floors you the minute you walk through those old-world Museo Pambata gates.  Museo Pambata has evolved.  No wonder it still maintains its status as One Of The Official Go-Tos For Elementary School Field Trips to this day.  So unlike The Manila Zoo, a giant MUST in its heyday... now grasping at straws to keep up with new players like Avilon Zoo and Manila Ocean Park.  So unlike The Planetarium which died a quiet, sorry death even before the SM Science Discovery Center got a chance to blow raspberries at it.

Museo Pambata, on the other hand,  still has its game on with newer, better hands-on educational and entertainment areas.  And the interior design is just awesome!  Check out the embossing on this wall!

My kids took part in table-top earthquake, tornado, and air pressure simulations here.  Earth science has never been this interesting.

How about Anatomy?  They learned about bodily functions by running through a long length of cold, grumbling intestine!

They saw actual x-rays of broken bones.

They saw the actual progression of food to poo.

And they even had a little (or huge!) heart-to-heart.

While we're on the subject of body parts, there's also an area that plays up the different senses.  Along with this genuine foot-command audio piano was a hodge-podge of optical illusion exercises.   This place needs a little bit of work.  But A for effort, nonetheless.

At the Community area, they were let in on the lives of our neighborhood helpers.  Barbers, fruit vendors, breadmakers.   The highlight was getting on a fire truck, of course.

There's an aquarium (not that exciting)...

And a sports area (ok, this one's exciting!), too.

As a grand finale, culture was reintroduced to my children with artifacts from the Spanish era.  There were also miniatures of historical buildings and galleons.  How cool is that!

All these for only P100 a pop!  And we didn't even get to go to a couple of other rooms because lights out were already upon us.

All-in-all, amidst every new theme park sprouting about like wild mushrooms, Museo Pambata is still a worthwhile place to go to.  It's new and nostalgic at the same time.  For that kind of schizo experience, I say it's worth every cent.