Circus time

We had so much fun at last year's circus, that I decided we should go again this year. If you go on opening night, you can get 4th row seats for twelve bucks. Not bad. The only downside is that your kids have to stay up late on a school night. They don't see that as a downside. But when you try to wake them up the next day, you are reminded that it was.

It was another really fun night, but not quite as good as last year's. I think part of the reason we loved it so much last time was the novelty of not having been in several years. This time, I found myself mentally comparing everything to last year's show.

There were some things we liked better, a few things we missed, and some new things that we could have done without.

*BETTER*

*THE GLOBE OF STEEL

They did not have this last year. I thought I had heard it was because it was too dangerous and someone got hurt or killed. Well, it was back! And they had EIGHT people in that little thing riding motorcycles at the same time. It was crazy ridiculous. I thought for sure we were going to witness at least one death, but we didn't. Yippee! I've heard that deaths put quite the damper on your circus enjoyment.

*CHINESE ACROBATS

These performers were amazing and multi-talented. 

They rode super tall unicycles while throwing and catching bowls on their heads,

   made a giant human pyramid on a pair of bicycles,

and performed amazing acrobatic feats while jumping through hula hoops.

(The blurry picture doesn't do it justice!)

*LION TAMER

I liked the lion tamer last year, too, but this time they had a big male lion with a gorgeous mane. And the tamer liked to make the lions and tigers growl at him. It was intense.

Doesn't she look hungry?

And he had a leopard on a leash,

which Caroline loved.

His finale was putting the big lion on top of a disco ball.

It struck me as humiliating for that giant, powerful animal.

*ALL-ACCESS PRE-SHOW

I don't think they did the pre-show last year. Or else I didn't look in the right places to find out about it. But the kids and I headed down to the arena early so we could get a look at all the animals.

We even got to witness the elephant artist in action.

*WORSE*

*They didn't fire anyone out of the canon. I loved that part.

*Also no tight-rope walkers. Caroline was disappointed. (They did have a couple of tight-rope motorcycle riders. Not the same.)

*The circus puppies, which are one of my favorite acts, were relegated to the side ring instead of center ring. They had farm animals in the center instead. Boo. I didn't have a very good view of those cute dogs doing awesome tricks!

The closest we got a tightrope walker.

*Performing Kangaroos. In theory it sounds pretty cool. But they were a new act, and not at all impressive.

This was the extent of their performance:

Jumping over a two foot flag being held by a clown.

As I learned in one of The Magic Treehouse books,

kangaroos can jump over a school bus.

That flag looked measly. Boo.

*Ponytail hangers. This act was just weird. The girls all hung from their ponytails. What? I don't get it.

*OTHER RANDOM MOMENTS*

*"Legends." That was the name of this particular show. Their poster had a picture of a pegasus and a unicorn on it. My girls were SOOOOO excited to see them. I wondered how the circus people were going to pull that off. Well....they did. Sort of.

 A pegasus!

And a unicorn!

(The lighting was so low! More blurry pics!)

Caroline was enthralled.

Even weirder to me was...

the wooly mammoth.

Again, I felt sorry for the poor elephant.

Overall, though. it was a very fun night. I so love this phase of parenting.