When I saw the calendar of events for my boys school year, I was initially excited to see that a field trip was scheduled. I immediately hoped they allowed parents to join, as I thought it would be lots of fun. And I knew right away too that I would want to make a blog post about it. But then as the time got closer and I learned more of the details of the trip I started to get anxious and worried. The schedule of events was a total of 12 hours. 12 hours with a bus load of preschoolers didn't sound so exciting the more I thought of it. And this would be the first time I was out and about in the city without Allan, so that made me a little nervous too.
I woke up early. Too early really since I had to feed baby Noah before we left. It was 5:45am when we left the house.
I sure seemed to pack a lot of things too. They asked you bring a change of clothes, for both your child and yourself as the companion. And they asked you to bring snacks, water, a towel and an umbrella. The towel is for wiping sweat from your kid's body. The umbrella had two purposes, to block rain and sun. It didn't rain, so most people used it for sun.
I am not sure how many students are in the preschool, but its not too big of a school. So that's why I was a bit surprised to find 5 charter buses parked outside of the school when we arrived at 6:30am. The teachers quickly told us which bus we were assigned and directly us to our seats.
The boys were excited and quickly caught on that this was going to be a fun day.
When I saw the accommodations on the bus I started to relax a little. The ration of child to adult was at least 1:1 and even 2:1 in some cases since some children had both of their parents accompany them. There was plenty of room on the bus to spread out and be comfortable on the drive. The bus itself was very different than the yellow school buses with plastic seats I was used to for field trips. This one had plush seats, air con, and a movie!
I particularly liked the fancy lights.
I am not sure how long it took us to get to our first destination. I lost track because of all of the entertainment on the bus. Each bus had a MC type spokesperson with a microphone, who was also sorta our tour guide for the day. I think it was sorta a package deal, the charter buses, tour guides and field trip planning. On our bus they had all of the preschoolers sing their favorite song over the microphone. If they sang a song then they would receive an animal balloon. Jakob quickly volunteered and sang "Itsty Bitsy Spider" and Trevor sang "ABC's". They both requested balloon swords.
The first stop was a museum. It was a typical type children's museum. We saw exhibits about Egypt and China. This was the familiar part of the trip that I expected.
Took this picture because it reminded me of the first plague in Egypt.
Then we saw a black light show about healthy habits (like brushing your teeth and washing your hands) and about exercising. Although the bad dream about giant monster germs was a little frightening! But when the basketball routine came on stage the whole audience erupted with loud cheers! People here really like basketball.
Then we went to our second stop, which happened to be right next door to the first museum. This second place was called "Creative Thinkers". This place was pretty cool.
I was immediately thankful for the large super heroes scattered around the lobby area as we waited in line. Especially thankful because it was Trevor's nap time and he was not only tired but also hungry. So I ended up carrying him quite a bit through this part. :)
There was a maze of mirrors, illustrating reflection. And then there was a play area to allow the kids to run a play for a few minutes. It was during this "play time" that Trevor finally broke down crying "hungry, hungry, hungry!" So while Jakob played, Trevor and I had some chips. Oh how happy those chips made Trevor! I was thankful for those chips!
The next part was fun. I am not sure what educational thing they were trying to teach. Maybe art? In any case it was a big room with lots of murals and "photo ops". You saw parents chasing their kids and trying to get as many pictures as they could. ha ha... I got a few myself. Here are some.
Choo choo!! Hold on tight boys, don't fall off!!
Chicken Trevor? Chicken is one of his most favorite food! :)
Whoa, true spider-boys, able to crawl on walls and not fall off!
Their first jeepney ride!
And this one is especially for my brother. I used to have a theme song as a kid. It was a little jingle I wrote myself and would sing. It went like this: "Sandi is the best, Sandi is the best, OH can't you see her halo!" This theme song reveals the state of my theology as a kid. But my younger brother would always add one last line to my theme song, "....oh can't you see her halo, .... held up by two little horns!" Little brothers!
I almost forgot the best part. Trevor's favorite part. The robot room! Full of robots. Iron man, transformers, and robots of all sizes. They even had a dancing robot that I caught on video. All the rest of the day, Trevor cried out and held my cheeks in his little hands and would look into my eyes and say "Robot dance please mommy?"
Then we got into the bus and stopped at Jolly Bee for lunch. Jolly Bee is sorta the equivalent of McDonald's. Kids love Jolly Bee here and often have birthday parties there.
After lunch Trevor got in a much needed nap on the bus before we arrived at our last stop.
Last stop was Sta. Elena Fun Farm, and it was fun indeed! This was my favorite. Wide open spaces and lots of room for kids to run. This is also when the "change of clothes" came into play. About half the kids that came off the bus had a whole new set of clothes on! I was surprised at how many people changed their clothes. I thought the change of clothes they told you to bring was in case we got caught in a rain storm. But turns out it was to change your clothes half way through the day in case you got too sweaty.
We went on a boat ride. Then we went fishing with bamboo sticks and string. I thought the fishing was just for fun and not real, until Jakob caught two fish and Trevor caught one! I didn't even have enough time to think through "what am I going to do with a fish on the bus ride back?" Before they threw him back into the pond. Maybe that's why he was so easy to catch? Wonder how many times he got thrown back into the pond?
Then we fed the animals.
And then we went on a horseback ride and rode in a cart pulled by a caribou (water buffalo).
There was one last opportunity to play before we bored the buses to head home. And to my surprise and the boys delight we found a tractor the same brand and color as Papa Bob's tractor back home in "The United States of America" (as Jakob likes to refer to it). That was extra special for me.
There was a few tears when we had to leave.... after all what did you expect with preschoolers after a long day of fun? But the bus ride home didn't disappoint! There were hidden seats the folded out down the aisle for all the kids to sit as they watched movies on the way home. We stopped at a rest stop and I got drinks and french fries for the boys dinner. It was very relaxing!
We arrived back to school at 7pm. It was indeed a long day! But it did not disappoint! It was full of fun for everyone!
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