The Circus

As per the tradition of the last couple of years, we took the kids to the circus, sponsored by the Madison Lions Club, at the local Lac Qui Parle High School. We were a bit disappointed that they didn't have the elephant again this year, but the kids didn't really seem to mind. We watched the different acts, and the kids even got to pick a treat (Megan, a big orange balloon on a stick that popped about sixty seconds after I gave it to her, and Brendan, a bag of cotton candy (half of which was eaten and the other half of which magically disappeared once we got home (no, mom didn't eat it, he didn't remember having it and I tossed it after a couple days.)) Even though it's not a large circus, it's fun to go, and it's always the most fun to just watch the kids and their reactions. It's hard to believe that next year there will be three kids...time will tell what will happen to this family tradition!


My guys. Brendan was so good and patient while waiting for the circus to start. There's just something about this picture that makes him seem so old...(oh, mother nostalgia...)

Megan, waiting for the circus to start (with Soft Puppy, which she absolutely refused to leave in the car.)

The opening act was a set of about ten dogs that did tricks. As the animal lover out of my kids, it definitely caught Megan's attention.

One of the dogs...it climbed the ladder, front feet, then back feet, one step at a time.

The balancing act guy...one hand on a plate on a pole. Pretty impressive, considering I'd be shaking just being up that high.

Brendan got ahold of my camera and took this picture of Brad.

Brendan, digging into his cotton candy.

Mmmmmm...

Brendan even shared. What a nice big brother! (And I'm thankful he did because she didn't even end up caring about her popped balloon.)

Megan liked wandering down the bleachers from us to watch the circus....Little Miss Independent.

Grandma, sharing her popcorn with Megan (or is it vice-versa?)

The trick pony.

My favorite part of the night? Watching Brendan watch the clown act. The second act the clown had, he took a balloon and bounced it in the air and another circus kid would sneak up behind him and pop the balloon with a big needle. This happened 3-4 times, and the next time, the circus kid sneaked up behind the clown and they made a big deal of the clown looking around for the kid (which had all the audience kids screaming, of course!) and then the circus kid popped the balloon, but it had water in it and he got all wet. Brendan's only smiling in this picture, but he laughed pretty hard at that, which just made the whole night worth it.

The final act was the balancing guy doing tricks on two hanging cloth streamers.

After the circus, we hung around to say goodbye to Brad's parents (his dad is part of the Lions and was helping with the tickets, etc.) and the kids raced back and forth in the main lobby area, just absolutely giddy (I told Brad's mom that the next time they eat cotton candy they're going home with her!) Luckily, they fell asleep on the ride home and it was an easy, quick bedtime.