Sunday afternoon, three members of our family had a terrific "first" experience. We went to the circus! Believe it or not, my husband has never been to a circus before so this was a first for even him. Someone was kind enough to give us four free tickets to the local Shriner's circus and we chose to go Sunday afternoon. The kids (and even my husband) had a ball! Will loved to watch the clowns but as soon as one came up to talk to him, he decided he wasn't too crazy about them and kept saying "no, no". The clown laughed and said, "That's my cue to back away." Ann Catherine was terrified of the clowns until that one came up to talk to them. After he left, she turned around and told her daddy that she decided she liked them after all. Weird children - they always seem to do the opposite of what I expect!!
Anyway, we saw the clowns, the motorcycles in the ball (they actually shrunk the metal ball and now have 4 motorcycles in them - it was amazing!), the jugglers, the lion tamer with lots of tigers and one lion, the dog tricks, the horse show, etc. Ann Catherine was most impressed by the contortionist woman; she decided she had no bones in her body!! Will loved to watch but started getting bored after a while (which I expected). He even decided to amuse himself by pitching his pacifier a couple times. Luckily, the first time it landed on the seat in front of us. The nice man in front handed it back. After that, Will decided it didn't go far enough and PITCHED it!!! It landed across the aisle and about 8 rows up. Very fortunately for us, it was during the intermission so no one was in the seat where it landed. I'd hate for Brian to have to get into a fight with someone who just got beaned in the head by a pacifier!! Even though it was just intermission, we decided it was time to go home. We had already been there almost two hours and we had no idea how much longer it would last past the intermission break!! All in all, though, it was a great experience. However, I have to admit I felt a little sadness. I was expecting the glitz and glamor and shiny, new sparkle that I remember from the circuses I went to in my childhood. This time, though, to me, the whole thing looked shabby and worn out. All the sets and props were very old and the tricks were all the same (minus the added motorcycles in the ball!). I'm not sure if it was because it was a Shriner's circus or if maybe that's the way it has always been and, seeing it with childlike eyes, the excitement "glittered" it up. Who knows? All I know is that what I enjoyed the most about the whole experience was just watching the faces of my children as they experienced their first circus. What a joy that was!
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7 comments:
It sounds like you had such a great time. I'm afraid I must break the news to you though...it was always that way, as far as the glitter goes. But that's okay - it sounds like your family enjoyed it as much as you did when you went as a kid. You didn't say, but how did Brian enjoy it? As much as the kids?
Do you remember going to the circus in Pusan with us? We still have pictures of the elephants as I recall. That was not all that glittery either!
I think the excitment and wonder of it all must have made me blind to the shabyness. But that's OK. I have great memories of a couple circuses. I do remember the one in Pusan. In fact, several times I thought about how I got to interview the trapeze artist for ISP a day or two before they ditched town and left with all their pre-sale ticket money (or something like that - I just remember lots of Koreans being mad at the situation). But that's one reason I wanted to go - to give my kids the same great memories!
So fun! I can totally picture Will chucking his pacifier at people's heads. What a goober.
As for the glitter, I think it depends on the circus you go to. Jeremy took me to the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circus for my birthday once, and I thought it was quite glitzy! Some of the tricks were sort of boring for adults, but it was still fun.
Did you get any pictures of the kids at the circus?
I remember the elephants! Julie and I got to sit on one, as I recall. Its back felt like a sack of straw. I thought the circus was the biggest place I had ever seen, and VERY glittery. I'm so glad you took the kids to see a circus themselves. It's something every kid should do.
Sorry...we forgot the camera at home. Otherwise I would've made sure to put it with my post. But we're definitely plan on going to Barnum & Bailey's as soon as they come back to Nashville. I figured, of all of them, they'd be the most likely to have a really great circus!
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