an animal weekend
Posted on August 24, 2008
Long weekends are always such a treat. The 3-day weekend last week was reduced to a 2-day one because Ramil and I both had whole-day engagements. He had to accompany some students to a competition in Ateneo while I attended a training in Alabang. It was the first time all three of us were in different, far-away places at the same time. Usually, at least one parent is with Mateo or on instances when Mateo is left with the yaya it’s usually because we’re both working in school. I was set to make the most of the next 3-day weekend.
I initially wanted to bring Mateo to the nearby Club Manila East. Ramil and I have been there several times already but those were when we weren’t married yet. Ramil immediately turned down the idea because of the weather. August is not actually a month to go swimming. After much thinking, I suggested that we go to Avilon zoo instead. Montalban is still relatively far from Antipolo, despite the fact that both of them are in Rizal but we’ve always wanted to visit that zoo. Also, Mateo loves animals. Although he gets icky at times and doesn’t want to hold a particular animal, they still get him very interested. The school where we work has a lot of animals and he knows them all. He’d sometimes drag me to the area in the school where the two crocodiles are housed and he’d eagerly point and say ‘croc-dile’. He also loves saying ‘Hi Klas!’ to Kulas, the school’s eagle owl. Or he’d point at the cages of the two Burmese python, Snaggy and Snappy, and say ‘neks’ for snakes. He already bravely touched Snaggy and was even bitten by a flying lizard that Ramil found in one of the trees there. Of course, the usual domestic animals also get their share of attention from our little animal-lover. He considers Ledi, my parents’ golden retriever, his playmate. He loves looking for lizards around the house and he’d eagerly chase cats and chickens outside. Needless to say, a trip to Avilon sounded like a great idea.
Despite deciding that we will be going to Avilon, we didn’t really plan when. Yesterday morning, I told Ramil that maybe we should just go that day. We impulsively agreed on it and everyone rushed to get ready. We didn’t know how to get there and the map in the site looked like a crude, general map to us. Ramil resorted to checking out Google Earth. I made us directions by tracing roads on Google Earth and knowing my husband’s lousy sense of direction, assigned myself as the navigator. We got there easily after an hour and a half of traveling. Entrance fee is 208 pesos per head regardless of age, only those less than a year old gets in for free. Since the zoo is several hectares and it didn’t look like it was easy to go around, we hired a tour guide for 350 pesos.
At the entrance, we were greeted with a big man-made lake housing several big arapaimas.
- big arapaimas
The first attraction for Mateo was a pair of rat statues. He sat on top of one of them, pressed on the rat’s body with his index finger and said ‘indot’ just like the rides at the mall, haha!
- riding the rat
A group of animals that Mateo knows so well are ducks. The zoo has a lot of different kinds.
lots of ducks
The zoo also has a lot of crocodiles. Mateo wasn’t too impressed with them because he’s used to seeing them already. Nevertheless, he was still happy to pose with one.
my boys and a croc
the zoo's biggest croc
The most diverse collection they have, I think, are the birds. Hence, the name of the place Avilon which means a place of birds.
posing with a hornbill
mateo likes the color too :)
staring at a lesser rhea: 'that's also a bird, dada?'
checking out a kangaroo
come closer lioness
with a pooping tiger, mateo: baho!
tired but happy
It was a fun and happy adventure for us albeit very tiring. We love spending days away from work especially because we always bring home work. For several hours, we didn’t think about checking test papers, researching mesothelioma, or making lesson plans. Mateo was disappointed though that there were no elephants. He kept saying ‘elpant’ the whole time, blame it on Barney’s Zoo Adventure which he loves watching. Until the very end, he was looking for the ‘elpant’. We plan to go back after a few years, maybe they’ll have ‘elpant’ then.
See more pics here.
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anlaki laki na ni mateo! especially love his photo with ramil and the rhea, amazed na amazed ang expression nia huh! hahaha great weekend indeed =)
aneybees last blog post..ABOUT
Hey Annie! Miss na kita!!!
andreas last blog post..an animal weekend
Wow! great photos you have there. Mukhang na enjoy nya talaga yung trip to the zoo.
We’d love to visit Avilon kaya lang sobrang layo sa amin…maybe one of these days. Nakaka enganyo yung mga pix ninyo.
Btw, please share your thoughts about this topic when you have time > http://www.mommastuff.com/?p=302
N!cE
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N!cEs last blog post..QOTW #29
Ang laki na ni Mateo. I’m glad to see an update with photos from you Andrea. And super mgakamukha sila ni Ramil nuh?
Hi Litzie! Oo nga e, tagal ko wala update. Hehe! Everyday lalong nagiging mini-me ni Ramil si Mateo
andreas last blog post..an animal weekend