I worked four days this week which is a lot of our family. My usual schedule is two days in the week. However, one of our clinic physicians was on vacation and asked me to fill in. It was not problem working the extra days since that is how we'll pay for my maternity leave later this year (by picking up extra days in advance). I am hoping to avoid extra days those first several months after the baby is born. At least not, until she's starting to eat some solids around 7-8 months.
With me being away so much this week, the kids knew they had to be extra good for Nan and also their dad who took a day off to help with their dental appointments and hang with them while I worked. As reward for their efforts, we suggested a trip to the circus. I even rented Mr. Roger's Neighborhood: Visits the Circus from the library so they would be excited in case we decided to go.
The big day was finally here for them to visit the circus. It was kind of a crazy place. First, walking up to the doors were animal cruelty protestors. That made me sad as the signs were quite graphic. Then, the seating and audio in the event center was also terrible. Still, though, the kids were all eyes and excited. I packed healthy snacks including home popped pop corn.
There was a charming band that played at the beginning but then it changed to regular audio music for the actual show. Again, I was kind of bummed about that. The animals were great. The tigers were awesome. The ponies were only used for rides at intermission and they are definitely not starved as they had very full bellies. My favorite was the dog act - there was a dog that climbed to the top of a 30 foot ladder and jumped off into the arms of his handler. The cute part was the dog was wearing a red cape (which, of course, T was also wearing his cape, too).
During intermission we took the kids down to see the elephants but they were not interested in riding them. They did want to get in the bounce house so we allowed that. Except, they turned the bounce house off while the kids were still in it and I panicked for about a minute until they were out, worried they were at risk for suffocation.
So, maybe it was not such a great idea to visit the circus but at least the kids seemed to have an okay time. Not great. The only real time they smiled was during the dog act. The rest of the time they seemed really overwhelmed and a little scared. Mr. Rogers said that it's okay not to stay for the entire circus. We took his advice and left after intermission. We retreated to do our long awaited mall shopping trip (we avoid it as long as possible until we absolutely go). At least there, the kids enjoyed redeeming my 1 lb of chocolate gift certificate from See's candy (sigh, as I am on a chocolate aversion right now). One pound of chocolate is about 24 pieces. Lil Sister and Hubby are going to have to enjoy it for me. And I was finally able to spend my Dillard's gift card that I received from graduation over a year ago! Did I mention we avoid the mall as much as possible?!? But the pretzels (which we also watched a special on how they are made this past week) were most delicious.
It still ended up being a great day as a family. The circus may not have been this epic experience but we were together and had a nice day. And because we skipped naps, the kids were asleep by 8:30. That was awesome! It allowed me to make T's stuffed monkey a Superman costume. (I'll post photos of Superman Monkey and Batman Cat soon). For now, enjoy the circus and mall photos...
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| The tigers. |
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| Trapeze artists. |
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| Ring spinners. |
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| More ring spinners - they were fascinating to watch. |
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| Dog act - all our favorite. Lil Sister loved that a little girl was part of the act, too. |
2 comments:
What fun!! I remember going to the circus when I was 4 years old and had a blast. One of the few memories I have is watching a tight rope walker and thought, "She might fall."
you know, when we went to the circus it was fun and all...and I didn't experience the issues you had with sound and the bounce house... but I tend to find these "big events" so much effort and work and then if the child is scared - it's just sometimes nicer to do the simpler things. This is a lesson for me as a parent that I am slow to learn! :) I like the big exciting things b/c I never did much of them as a child! :)
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