Today was Sam’s first visit to Rizal Park, still better known as Luneta.

Ellen decided that it was time for Sam to experience Rizal Park for herself, as she only reads about it in her books and actually had the impression that it’s somewhere far away (“Sa probinsya ba tayo pupunta, Mommy?”).

Turned out that it was also a chance for me to relive my childhood, as I brought them to the Children’s Playground, which was one of my favorite places when I was Sam’s age.

It’s somewhat strange to see that around 30 years later, the place seemed exactly the same, except it’s a lot dirtier now.

I hadn’t thought of the Children’s Playground in a long, long time, but seeing it again brought back vivid memories, and I marveled not only at the fact that these fixtures were still intact 30 years later, but also that they were exactly as I remembered them — except the area and the statues seemed much bigger back then. Guess everything seemed bigger when I was a small kid.

Here are more photos.

After going to the Children’s Playground, we walked across Rizal Park to go to the monument. By the way, you’ll find lots of stray cats in Luneta.

Here’s a photo of two cats sleeping in the picnic area of the Children’s Playground.

And here’s a big cat I spotted while we were going to the Philippine map area.

While you can’t tell from this photo, that’s a map of the Philippines behind Ellen and Sam — it’s a replica of the Philippine islands.

Kite flying is also a favorite park activity, so we bought one for Sam from one of the vendors here.

Here’s a video of Sam’s first time to fly a kite.

Here’s a pic of me and Sam posing in front of the monument, just in time for the beautiful sunset. Wondering why Sam looks upset? She wanted to keep flying her kite.