Circus Time!

The circus is in town! Nathan loves animals, especially his safari animals, so when we found out that the circus was coming to Dallas, we thought it would be fun to take Nathan. We found out about it a few weeks ago and told Nathan about it. We didn't think he'd really understand or remember, but that is ALL he talked about for two weeks straight! It was really kind of sad because every time we got in the car, he said, "Circus?" Wayne kept saying, "Daddy will take you to the circus when it comes." So then, along with asking about the circus every day, Nathan started saying, "Circus, Daddy take you." It was so sweet!

So last Saturday was finally our day to go to the circus. The show was at 3:30 which is during Nathan's nap time. He did take a nap, but we had to wake him up early to get down there in time. Normally, if I have to wake Nathan up from his nap, he is really grouchy! He started to cry when I was waking him up, but as soon as I asked him if he wanted to go to the circus, he quickly sat up and said, "Oh yes!"


Nathan and Daddy walking in to the arena.


There was a pre-show before the actual circus started where we could go on to the floor and meet the clowns, see the elephants, and walk around. Nathan didn't quite know what to think of this clown up close. We tried to get him to sit next to the clown, but he had a death grip on my neck!


We got really lucky because our seats were perfect. When we bought the tickets, we found out that they only had single seats left so we were going to have to sit on separate rows. We figured that maybe someone wouldn't show up or that we could switch with someone. Well, when the lady taking our tickets and showing us to our seats found out that we were going to sit on different rows, she said we could sit in the platform area reserved for wheelchairs. This was so great because it was roomy and roped off so Nathan could walk around a little. Plus it was raised, so we could see better than if we were sitting right down front.

Nathan laughed out loud several times when the clowns did their act.

We were really surprised by how mesmerized he was during the whole show. He switched off from sitting on my lap to Wayne's lap to standing up, and then back to one of our laps again.

He really had fun when he and Daddy went to get a snack of popcorn and hot dogs!

Here come the elephants! The elephants were what really got Nathan excited. He clapped and clapped when he saw the first one, and yelled "Bumbo!"

This picture is kind of hard to see, but it's of the motorcycles and four wheelers. This is where 7 motorcycles raced in circles around this steel ball. It was really neat to see!

During intermission, we took Nathan out to pick out a souvenir. I thought he'd want an elephant or some other kind of circus animal, but when he saw this four wheeler guy, he got so excited. He actually had a huge fit because he didn't understand why he couldn't have it as soon as he pointed it out. Nathan hasn't quite learned how to be patient. I tried to tell him that Daddy has to pay for it first, but he wanted it NOW! Plus it didn't help that the lady selling it to us was taking her sweet time ringing it up and putting it in a bag. But as soon as he got his toy, he totally switched personalities and was happy as could be.

The next big act was the tigers...again, one of Nathan's favorites.

And then the elephants came back out! I felt like the show was spaced out perfectly. There would be something really exciting like the elephants or tigers and then something quieter like the acrobats. So when Nathan started to get a little restless, it wasn't long until something else caught his attention.

Nathan wasn't as interested in the acrobats or trapeze people, but he did enjoy watching them for a short time. While these people were doing their act, Nathan held onto the rail and stood on one leg like he was copying them :)

We really were surprised that we made it through the whole 2 hour show...I was so afraid that it was going to be a waste of money, that Nathan would like it for a little while and then get overwhelmed or bored, but nope! He loved it! It's been 4 days since we went, and Nathan is still talking about it. Here are some videos I took of him last night telling me about the circus...he just LOVES for me to quiz him :)





I did just see a documentary about the circus and cruelty to animals, but I'm going to pretend like that doesn't go on with the Ringling Brothers Circus. Maybe they're the one circus that treats their animals really well???