Ringling Brothers AND (we can't forget) Barnum and Bailey's circus came to town this week - "The Circus of Dreams". Of course, there was a man outside with a sign that read, "Circus of Cruelty", and to tell you the truth, I don't know what to think about that. I will admit that I have a soft spot in my heart for the animals both in the zoo (like the Cheetah's in cages the size of my tiny house, where my kids go stir crazy) and the circus (where the elephants are trained to stand on their head). BUT, that's about as far as my feelings go, because I know there are critics to both sides, and I don't really know either story. Like, Ringling Brothers has a 200 acre preserve in Florida for Asiatic elephants, that they say are endangered, and they also were claiming that their white tigers (Siberian?) were endangered and benefitting under their care. I did read a news story last week that poachers were going onto a preserve in India and killing endangered Asiatic lions for their bones. I am pretty much completely ignorant on the subject, so that's enough of that...
Evie and Owen had a blast! Owen was completely beside himself at the beginning of the show when they bring all the animals out for a little parade and dance. He was just sitting on my lap staring, laughing, clapping, and periodically turning around to tell me about it. I think his favorite part was the elephants and the Cossacks on their horses. Evie says her favorite part was the huge blow up dragon that was riding around. Mhh. For me, watching the kids was the best part. The show was sub par. Actually my favorite part was probably at the beginning when they asked for a volunteer family who had always wanted to be in the circus, and a family started running out from the side before they even pointed to them. I thought maybe it was a family who had paid extra for a "circus experience", but then after, oh 1 second, it was clear that they were trained and part of the circus. That was just the story line to connect the whole show. There were all the regular circus things though - elephants and tigers, 7 men on little motorbikes riding around inside a tiny little ball, chinese acrobats, a man walking upside down, hercules catching a canon - you know, the norm. Oh, and of course, cotton candy! which was another highlight of my night. I didn't realize that the kids wouldn't know it was candy. If your kids have never had cotton candy, please give it to them! It is the funniest thing! We gave it to Evie first, who was completely confused. I think she thought it was like, cotton or something. I'm sure she thought it wasn't edible. She just looked at it and back to us. Finally we coerced her to put it in her mouth, which eventually turned into a taste, and then a bite, all with a furrowed brow. When she finally realized she liked it, she went back to watching the show and ate a few more bites, but I think the confusion got the best of her - like if you found out fried worms tasted good, you still probably couldn't eat very many. Owen just took it all in stride, made a funny face, ate a few bites, and then asked for some more popcorn.
This is about as far as she got with the cotton candy.
Evie and Owen had a blast! Owen was completely beside himself at the beginning of the show when they bring all the animals out for a little parade and dance. He was just sitting on my lap staring, laughing, clapping, and periodically turning around to tell me about it. I think his favorite part was the elephants and the Cossacks on their horses. Evie says her favorite part was the huge blow up dragon that was riding around. Mhh. For me, watching the kids was the best part. The show was sub par. Actually my favorite part was probably at the beginning when they asked for a volunteer family who had always wanted to be in the circus, and a family started running out from the side before they even pointed to them. I thought maybe it was a family who had paid extra for a "circus experience", but then after, oh 1 second, it was clear that they were trained and part of the circus. That was just the story line to connect the whole show. There were all the regular circus things though - elephants and tigers, 7 men on little motorbikes riding around inside a tiny little ball, chinese acrobats, a man walking upside down, hercules catching a canon - you know, the norm. Oh, and of course, cotton candy! which was another highlight of my night. I didn't realize that the kids wouldn't know it was candy. If your kids have never had cotton candy, please give it to them! It is the funniest thing! We gave it to Evie first, who was completely confused. I think she thought it was like, cotton or something. I'm sure she thought it wasn't edible. She just looked at it and back to us. Finally we coerced her to put it in her mouth, which eventually turned into a taste, and then a bite, all with a furrowed brow. When she finally realized she liked it, she went back to watching the show and ate a few more bites, but I think the confusion got the best of her - like if you found out fried worms tasted good, you still probably couldn't eat very many. Owen just took it all in stride, made a funny face, ate a few bites, and then asked for some more popcorn.
This is about as far as she got with the cotton candy.
Enjoying the show.
These may look like stuffed tigers, but they are real - six white Siberian tigers and they all pounced on the girl after this stunt.
Just kidding!
There were like twelve elephants or something, and one little one. They were actually pretty cute, and they looked like they were having fun... this one is holding up a sign directing the dancers to "flip". The premise was that the elephants were in charge and getting the humans to do tricks.
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