Trampoline Park at The Portal

We went to the Trampoline Park at the Portal in early April.  We bought Metrodeal vouchers worth PhP 175.00 each.  If we were going on a weekday, it would have been only PhP 150.00. We decided to go to the Trampoline Park in Mandaluyong instead of Jump Yard because it was closer and easier to go to than Jump Yard.  Aside from the Metrodeal vouchers being available for Trampoline Park and not Jump Yard.

I called a few weeks before to reserve our 10:30 am slot.  When we got there, we were told that we would be moved to the 11:00 am slot. I did not mind as it was just 20 minutes away.  The bad thing was they ran out of grip socks for adults and only had the small size which could only fit Hailey.  I did not bring socks because I thought we had to use the grip socks then they tell us they ran out and we could just wear ordinary socks which we had to buy at 7-eleven. Another disappointing thing was when we were called to enter the trampoline area, there were so many of us. I noticed that there were only a few people in the trampoline area before our group was allowed to enter.

As I mentioned, it was quite crowded and sometimes some people were just lying around the foam pit for photo opportunities so you can't jump in because they are in the way.  This is what frustrated Griffin.  It was also hot in the area specially after jumping around and with so many people inside. The grip socks would have made it easier going around the trampolines.  It would also be useful in the basketball area where you need to keep your balance.

Despite all these, it was still fun jumping around.  It would have been a better experience if they limited the number of people and made sure they had grip socks available.

 

Kendo Classes

I was also searching the internet for summer classes for Griffin when I saw that there were Kendo summer classes for kids nearby. I never knew that there were Kendo Clubs in the Philippines. I thought Griffin would be interested in it because a Shinai or bamboo sword was used.  He actually joined a Wu Shu club in school two years ago, and some of his club mates had a stick, I don't know what it's called in Wu Shu. He wanted one. I think I mentioned Kendo to him that time but I did not know that Kendo was being offered in the Philippines. The usual martial arts classes I see being offered are Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Aikido but not Kendo.

The Kendo summer classes are being offered by IGA Kendo Club Philippines.  This is every Saturday or every Sunday of April depending on the venue you chose, either in Dasmarinas Village or City Club Alphaland. The class fee is PhP 2000.00 for four sessions not inclusive of the Shinai.  You can rent the Shinai for PhP 1000.00 for four sessions or buy your own.

Griffin actually missed the first session because I only saw the ad after the first class.  He started two Sundays ago, at first we just rented the Shinai because we did not know if Griffin would like it but right after the class, we decided to buy the Shinai because he enjoyed the class.  He said he liked it even if it was tiring. He had his second class last Sunday and it looks like he's serious about it.  His dad asked him if he wanted to continue the Kendo class even after the summer classes are over and he said yes.

Here's a shot from the class:

Hailey's Creative Mind

Hailey is a very artistic kid. She loves to draw, paint, model clay and do crafts.  She has notebooks full of drawings, mostly people. She has a very creative imagination. Whenever she sees empty boxes, tissue rolls or Pringles containers, she tells me to keep them because she wants to design them.  She usually wraps them in paper and paints over it in different colors.  If it's a box, she usually wraps it like a gift box complete with ribbon. When one of us has a birthday, she would always think of a DIY project to give as a gift. It could be old socks or a disposable container which she decorates.

Here are a couple of her artworks:

 

 

These are some of her molded oven bake clay:

 

 

The last photo was her painting on canvas using acrylic paint.  She loves watching youtube tutorials and gets some of her ideas there. She watched a youtube video about painting on canvas and asked me to buy her the materials. She even wanted a sponge applicator which I could not find in the bookstore, so we just ended up buying different paint brushes.

While googling  for summer art classes near our area, I found a school offering a painting class for kids. Basically, they have a sample of a painting by a classic painter like Van Gogh then the kids try to copy the painting on their own canvas.  I thought Hailey would like it. i showed her pictures of the finished work of the kids, but she said she did not like the class. She said she does not want to be told what to draw or paint, she wants to do her own art. That is why we decided to just buy the materials and paint at home. She truly has a creative mind, a very good imagination.

Another thing she saw while we were in the mall was Color Me Mine. We were at Hobbes and Landes in BGC where she saw the Color Me Mine corner. She saw the display of pottery items to be painted and wanted to try it.  I told her we'll just try it in the Greenbelt branch.

The following Saturday, as promised, we went to Hobbes and Landes Greenbelt.  To start, you have to chose a pottery figure, like a mug, plate, coin bank, animal, etc. then chose five colors to be used in painting.  The price of the pottery piece depends on the design. The bigger the piece, the higher the price.  The small mug she chose was PhP 350.00 but there is an additional PhP 180.00 fee for the use of paint, glazing and baking of the item. There is a waiting time of at least three weeks before you can claim the final product.

Here she is contentedly painting her mug which she says is for me. She even painted "I love my mom" on it.

She's excited to get the final product and has been bugging me about it.  Hopefully, we'll be able to pass by Greenbelt this weekend to check if it is there already.  She actually wants to paint another     one but since it's quite expensive, I told her maybe next time. 😊

Staycation no. 2: Hotel Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila

A day after we checked out of Crown Towers, we checked in at Hotel Sofitel. We have stayed at this hotel a couple of times already.  Whenever we stay here, it feels like we are not in the city because it's kind of isolated. There are no malls, restaurants or even convenience stores nearby. The bad thing is, you need to eat at the hotel unless you ride a car to go out.

We arrived around 11 am because we plan to eat lunch buffet at the Spiral buffet.  Luckily, the hotel room was immediately available upon check in.

We relaxed a bit then went back downstairs to eat lunch. We ate a lot. We were so full that we did not plan to eat dinner anymore.  Hahaha! After lunch, we went straight back to the room to rest and wait for the food to be digested before going swimming.

A few minutes to 4 o'clock, we went down to swim.  The pool was not full of people unlike the other times we stayed here.  It's because we went on Holy Wednesday this time, when people were not on vacation yet. The water temperaure was good. I wanted to try the water slide because it looked like fun. I climbed up to the top of the slide, but once I sat down to get ready to slide, I panicked. I did not know if I was supposed to sit down or lie down. I lay down and i slid down so fast and plunged into the water.  It was really bad. Water went in my nose and it hurt. I forgot to pinch my nose on the way down. We did not stay at the pool. After about an hour, we went back to the room.

As I said earlier, we did not plan to eat dinner anymore but the kids got hungry so we decided to order food for room service. The kids were impressed when the food arrived in a rolling table, complete with table arrangement.  They said it was so fancy.

The next day, we had buffet breakfast.  Right after, the kids and I decided to go swimming again.  At around 11:30 am we went back to the room to shower and get ready to check out of the hotel. We claimed our welcome drinks, two glasses of mango shake, while waiting for the check out process. We were also given free peanuts and chips together with the drinks. It was a good hotel stay as usual, that's why we often stay here.

Crown Towers City of Dreams and Dream Play

One of our first summer activities was a staycation at the Crown Towers in City of Dreams.  We chose this hotel because they offered a family staycation package that included tickets to Dream Play for two adults and two kids. The kids were both excited. They love staying in hotels because this is their chance to swim in a pool.  This is actually the only time they can get to swim in a pool except if it's the small inflatable pool at home. They also wanted to go to Dream Play after seeing pictures of the place on the internet.

We left the house early and arrived at Crown Towers at around 10 o'clock in the morning.

We left early so that we can go to Dream Play while we wait for our hotel room to be ready since check-in is at 3 o'clock. We checked in then rode a golf cart to Dream Play since kids are not allowed to pass through the casinos.  Riding the golf cart was also a treat for them.

We got to Dream Play at around 10:30 am.  It was just the perfect time to arrive since there were still very few people inside. There were no long lines. It's like we almost had the whole place to ourselves.

We ate at Chez Gingy, the snack bar inside Dream Play.  The food was quite expensive. We ordered,fries, pizza, mac n cheese, burger with potato wedges and refillable soda.  The food was delicious except for the mac n cheese which Hailey ordered but did not eat because it tasted bad. I can't blame her. It's probably the worst mac n cheese I've tasted.

The kids had fun filling up their own soda which is something they can't do in any restaurant.

 We ate while waiting for our turn at the cookie making class. In between bites, they would go to the slides which were nearby.

We went to Cooking with Gingy next where the participants flattened the cookie dough with rolling pins then shaped it with a gingerbread man cookie cutter. They were given a ready made cookie which they were allowed to decorate with icing.

After the cooking class we went to the Dream Theater to watch the DreamWotks 4-D animated movie. Right after, the kids had ice cream with unlimited toppings.

While eating ice cream, Po passed by so the kids had the chance to get a picture with him.

We went to Whatever Floats Your Boat next where the kids assembled their own boat.  The downside was they did not have enough good parts, particularly the barrel shaped ones to make two good floating vessels. When the boats were placed in the river, the one with four barrels withstood all the obstacles while the other broke apart.

Griffin tried the Wall of Destiny.  He enjoyed it specially the part where he jumps down when he can no longer continue climbing.

We roamed around Shrek's Swamp Stomp.

Our last stop was the DreamStudio where you can make your own animated film. Taking pictures and videos are not allowed inside the DreamStudio.  By this time, our 4 hours was almost up so we decided to leave and look inside the DreamShop.

It was almost 3 o'clock.  We rode the golf cart back to the hotel.  Our room was ready and we were able to relax a bit.  I loved it that there were two queen sized beds in the room.  We did not need to squeeze ourselves into one king sized bed.

After resting a while, we went downstairs to swim in the pool.  The kids were really excited.  They always look forward to swimming whenever we check into a hotel.  There was a heated jacuzzi and a bigger pool which both had jets. The pool was big and there were not a lot of people around.

After swimming, we had dinner buffet at The Cafe inside Hyatt Hotel. The buffet had a great selection of food to eat. We were so full when we got back to the hotel room.

The next morning, we had breakfast at Crown Towers Crystal Lounge.  We were expecting the usual big breakfast buffet in hotels but was disappointed that breakfast was in a small lounge and had very few choices for breakfast.  There were some items included in the menu that you could order like tocino, pancakes or bacon. Our pancakes and tocino came in a short while but the bacon we ordered which I followed up 3 to 4 times came after a long long time just when about everyone else has left the lounge except us.  It seems they never followed it up with the kitchen except the last time I followed it up.  Really bad service for a 6 star hotel. My husband was very disappointed specially because he ordered the bacon.  He said we should have stayed at The Hyatt or Nobu Hotel.

Blogging comeback

It has been a long time, approximately three and a half years since my last post. I kind of regret not blogging these past few years as I was not able to record in writing the special events and milestones of my kids. Of course, I have pictures but not everything can be captured by photos, like small anectdotes and conversations with my kids. I hope to blog regularly from now on.

This past school year has been very good for both Griffin and Hailey. Hailey had a merit card for three quarters while Griffin obtained First Honors for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarter. They both missed the Annual awards because they got a grade of B in one subject for one quarter. Griffin would have graduated with honors. He was kind of sad that he did not get a medal.

Since it's summer vacation, it's breaktime from school. They are both enjoying activities they love. No need to get up early and no homework until June.