The Greatest Show on Earth

Every year of Will's life I've wondered if he was old enough to take to the circus.  We decided this year was the year.  One of his favorite books is If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Suess.  He can tell you almost anything about the Circus McGurkis.  The book is LONG, so often we split reading it between nap and bedtime.  I also loved the book Water for Elephants, so I was kinda excited about the idea.

Anyway, that motivated us to get tickets.  We went to the pre-show and were able to get close to some clowns, an elephant painting a picture, and some other circus folks.  The kids got tattoos that said "The Greatest Show on Earth".  It barely fit on Maddie's little hand.   Before the show started we loaded up on light up necklaces, popcorn, sodas, and a snow cone in an elephant cup.  Will was pretty entertained and excited about the show.  Maddie was interested for about 3 minutes and then she wanted to run around.  She'd stop every now and then and point at a tiger, a jugglers or some sort of acrobat.  Will loved the tigers, the motorcycles in the sphere of death or whatever they call it, the tightrope walkers, and the trapeze flyers.  Chris and I did, too.  The show was REALLY long (to my surprise) and after about 2 hours we decided it was time to go.  I think we missed the last 20 minutes.   Overall the kids liked the show.  I think we'll take them back in 5 years or so...when they'll really sit and watch it!

The circus is a huge production and much more than I remember it being when I was a kid.  Clowns are not as scary, the ring master SINGS and has a crew of dancers that follow him around, and there are segways.  Who knew!