The Circus Came To Town

Taking the kids to the circus has become a biennial event for us, with this being our 3rd time going. The kids just love it, of course. We went early this year (like we did 4 years ago) and got to see the animals in their pens/cages before the show. 

Most of the tigers were lazily lounging around, but there were couple that were pacing like... well, tigers in a cage. 

The kids were very excited about the camels, since they'd never seen one up close before. 

Then, of course, were the elephants. 

It was nearly showtime, so they were getting their last minute preparations done, like getting blown off with a leaf blower and putting on their harnesses.

Then it was time for the show! As we expected, the kids just loved it. It was hard to get pictures of their reactions, but they were very animated most of the show, even little Irene. :)

 Olivia loved these aerial acrobats. They were lit up with blacklights and were doing all kinds of synchronized tricks on bungee cables.

Emma and Irene loved the elephants.

Gabe's favorite part was the guys on the trampolines doing tricks.

Ezra, not surprisingly, loved the cannon and the bmx trick riders.

The Greatest Show on Earth

The circus is in town again and since we didn't go last year, we thought it would be fun to take the kiddos this year. Boy, were we right! Everyone had a great time. Nana and Pop-pop took the morning off from work to come with us. This year's theme was "Build It Big!"

 The clowns were Olivia's favorite part of the show.

Emma just LOVED the music. She was bouncing like a kangaroo in Rebecca's lap.

 We got some cotton candy for the kids, which they gladly devoured.

 

Basketball on unicycles...I can't imagine the training it takes to do that...

Rebecca's favorite? The tigers.

It was a little hard to tell who was stronger... ;)

As always, the elephants were a treat. 

One elephant kept pulling his tail away from the one behind that wanted to hold it as they walked. :)

 Ezra was slightly disappointed when we ran out of popcorn.

The show, with a 15-minute intermission was right at 2.5 hours, which certainly seemed like a long time, but it was fantastic. The kids just loved it and will be talking about it for weeks to come, I'm sure.

The Greatest Show on Earth

Last week, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus came to town and my parents bought tickets for all of us. The tickets included a free "open house" that let you walk through the pens and see the animals before the show and then go down on the main floor and see some of the performers up close.

We got to see the tigers (and a couple of cubs), zebras, horses and elephants in their pens. Olivia and Gabe really enjoyed the elephants.

 
It was obvious that most people come to see them. They had little displays set up with info about the elephants, their physiology and diet. One explained that by measuring the circumference of the foot and doubling it, you know how tall the elephant is at the shoulder.

Gabe just thought it was neat to stand on the model foot they had on display.

Once we found our seats, I took Olivia and Gabe down to the floor and got to watch some twins from Argentina doing some amazing juggling. I happen to love juggling and have been a fan since seeing the Flying Karamazov Brothers on TV when I was a kid.

Then it was time for the show.

Now, I have to admit, I fully expected it to be hokey and really kid-oriented. I was wrong. It was fantastic. Lots of lights, music and amazing feats of acrobatics, strength and agility. There were some tumblers that really need to be on the US Men's Olympic gymnastics team.

Gabe loved the clowns! Well, really, he loved the whole thing. He pretty much spent the whole show in a trance.

It's impressive to see animals so large do things like this. Elephants are surprisingly agile.

Olivia also loved the clowns. She thought they were really funny. They did one long routine where they were trying to change a giant light bulb that she really loved.

 Rather than the typical "Human Cannonball", they launched this guy on a giant crossbow. As they were building up to the launch, i saw them prepping the guy and I said to Rebecca, "It looks like they're going to light that poor man on fire." Then...

They did.