Aquarium Field Trip

Katie's class took a field trip to the Long Beach Aquarium, and Katie really wanted me to be one of the chaperones, since she thought it would be cool to tell her classmates that her Mommy used to work there! (I let her hold my old ID Badge while we were there - she was excited about that!)

Eric and I arranged for Nick to be at the back-up daycare place by his office, and I was able to be a driver for the field trip.

Well, I had a fabulous day! I felt kind of guilty -- the moms overseeing groups of 4-5 energetic boys exploring the aquarium were dead-tired at the end of our time there, while I had a group of 4 girls, AS WELL AS Mrs. Arnold (who came in my car to hear about my time at the aquarium as well as other marine biology experiences, and then stuck with my group inside the aquarium as well to get the inside scoop), AND I knew the place like the back of my hand! Easy peasy!

The program Mrs. Arnold had booked was a theater program (as opposed to a classroom program), one I had seen and helped with a few times. I was disappointed because that meant I didn't get to go inside the classroom area, so didn't get to peek in the office and see if there was anyone there I knew.

I knew that, since it has been over six years since I worked there (and I worked there less than a year), there would be plenty of rust in the old noggin. I didn't know that I would mess up our arrival! We were shown inside Gate 8 by Guest Services (who, in typical Guest Services style, neglected to tell us what we were supposed to do next and vanished), and then I led us into the aquarium to the public theater entrance, went in myself, and was told by the Educator to go back outside and wait for her there. OOPS!

But when we got back outside and she met us at that door, she recognized me! Not only that, she remembered me! She (Lori) said, "I know you! Dissolved Oxygen! Hi Barbra!" (Dissolved Oxygen is one of the lab classes that I wrote for them - I have been told it's been a popular one.) That sure made me feel good!

An ego-boosting day with a fun group at one of my favorite places!

But enough about MY day at the aquarium... how about KATIE'S day at the aquarium?

She and the rest of her group were very engaged. They explored every area of the aquarium, touching animals in all of the touch tanks and discussing what they were seeing in the exhibits. I love seeing a group of girls getting their hands wet without hesitation!






I love this photo. Leg up in the air for balance, hair in the water... petting a leopard shark!


The girls decided to buy some nectar to feed the lorikeets. This was actually my first time in that exhibit, believe it or not. No sooner did we get inside, than this happened:


She handled it remarkably well, remaining reasonably calm until Mrs. Arnold got the bird onto her own finger! Impressive, since it was walking down her hair, sort of pulling it with its beak for balance.


She even fed more birds afterwards!


A day to remember for both of us!