The Circus Comes to Town

This past weekend we took our first (but not last) family trip to the circus.  And it was AWESOME!  On Friday I noticed some buy one-get one free passes at the dry cleaners for the Shrine Circus.  I picked a few up on a whim.  Our parenting bible study kept reminding us of the importance of having fun as a family and how you really have to make an effort to do things - the whole "the family that plays together stays together" thing.  This was a really last minute decision to go and we weren't sure if tickets were still even available, because we couldn't purchase them online, so we didn't mention anything about the circus to Liam until right before we left on Saturday morning.

Growing up in Albuquerque, the Shrine Circus was the only circus that I remember coming through town. I loved the excitement of eating cotton candy, watching the acts and buying those glow in the dark necklaces.  Since I moved to the metroplex and saw advertisements for Ringling Brothers, I assumed that the Shrine Circus was probably a little hockey by comparison.  But upon revisiting the Shrine Circus this past weekend, I fell in love all over again with the excitement of the big top!

This was obviously Liam's first time, but I also learned that it was Eric's first time to attend.  This surprises me since my husband is a man-child who loves this sort of entertainment.  We had no problems getting tickets, and as a bonus Liam and Ansley were free. Eric and I utilized our 2 for 1 coupon so it ended up being cheaper than seeing a movie.  Liam was soooo good.  We rewarded his behavior (and his repeated requests) with one of those glow in the dark light sabres.  Ansley, although missing her morning nap, alternated between being wide-eyed and snoozing on my chest.  While we didn't have any cotton candy, Eric did buy the most syrupy slushy that turned our mouths bright red and gave us a smidgen of a kool-aid mustache. 

Our seats were great since the venue was small and the Saturday morning show has the slowest traffic. The show was really amazing.  The acrobats, trick performing dogs, show-stealing elephant act, and death defying stunts, left us wanting more.  We left at the intermission because we didn't want to push our luck with the kids.  For those of you who haven't been to a circus in awhile, the show is about an hour and a half, followed by a 30 minute intermission where the kids (and parents) can ride the elephants, camels and ponies and have their faces painted.  Then the second half begins.  We missed it, but we saw them setting up the trapeze, bike cage (the big metal cage), and the canon for what I assume was the finale.

Liam, waving to the clowns.  He obviously has yet to see Stephen King's "It" and does not share his mommy's grownup fear of clowns.

Ansley in awe of the laser lights show

Eric loved "the big cats."  I was a little freaked out by the 8 very large tigers.

My favorite act.  This was one beautiful and talented creature.

Young Jedi knight

Enjoying the sights and sounds, safe and snug

Recovering afterwards

Enjoying the beautiful spring afternoon

We had a blast and Liam keeps asking to go again.  Maybe when Ringling Brothers comes this summer we might make the trek to Dallas. Hope you had a great weekend!