manila ocean park: iñigo's first field trip

a trip to manila ocean park was really in our plans after christmas but we canceled it for some reasons. a week later, iñigo's teacher told us thru a letter that they will have a field trip in ocean park on january 27th--great!

i admit i was more excited than the kiddo as i knew he'd love the place. jude was also excited for him and he actually wanted us to go there as a family but unfortunately there's a training for him, which was also scheduled on the date of the field trip. but this also gave me a major dilemma as no one will be left in the house with theo. i was about to ask the assistance of my cousin who's off from school that day but the daddy decided last-minute to stay home.

since the daddy can't drive us iñigo and i just took a cab going to the theme park. there's a transportation provided by the school for those who will not be bringing their cars but i opted not to avail this as the fee is twice the amount than if we're going to pay for a taxi ride rount-trip. call time was 10:00 a.m. but we reached the gate at 10:15 a.m. i was glad to see that our group was still waiting outside the building. :D

iñigo joining the choo-choo train

the train started to dissamble as soon as we got inside the park. the kids together with their guardians made their own itineraries and it was pretty obvious that we just have to help ourselves throughout the tour. i was quite disappointed because one of the reasons why i decided to let iñigo join the field trip is because i wanted him to share his observations with his classmates or peers. it definitely didn't happen but i was still glad that i was there with him. more than half of his classmates went to ocean park only with their nannies and honestly speaking, i can't help but feel bad for these kids.

a rare chance to pose together with a classmate (it's gota)

we moved from one room to another until we reached the big aquariums like those labeled with laot and karagatan. the sights were nice indeed but we can't fully appreciate them because there were also a lot of other guests, mostly students, who flocked in front of the glass panels or sitting on the ledges. iñigo and i had to be content in looking at the sea creatures from a distance. it was during this moment that i thanked my decision of not going there last december as for sure the crowd was bigger (and rowdier) and we'll be forced to leave early for theo's sake.

nonetheless, iñigo still had an enriching experience inside the ocean park. he immediately looked for his book of sea animals as soon we got home and he pointed to his daddy what he saw like the stingray and the shark. he's also now fond of the plastic miniatures of sea animals which he received as a christmas gift from one of his classmatest. the trip was worthy after all! :D