The Circus Comes to Town

The circus came to town for a few days and we decided to get tickets--it was Em's first time, and the first time that Mick and I really remember.  When we got there, a few people were gathered outside protesting with signs claiming that Ringling Bros. mistreats the animals.  I would love to believe that's not true, but as we watched the show and saw all of the tricks these wild animals were performing, I started to wonder more and more.  There's plenty of information to find that supports both sides, so let's just say I'll be doing some more research before we decide to go back next year.

This year though, Em loved it.  She really enjoyed the show, and watched intently the whole time.  The only thing she stopped for was popcorn and hot dogs!

It was tough to get good pictures of her during the show because it was so dark, but I tried to get some shots of the action.

The animals were of course her favorite part.

She saw Dumbo and Ms. Jumbo!

And she loved that she could use her outside voice inside.

The theme of the show was Dragons, and this dragon came out at the end, breathing fire and all!

It really is a spectacular production--it was about 2 hours long with a 30 minute intermission, which fell right at lunch time.  It worked out well for us.

There were plenty of human tricks too, in addition to the animals.

This was my sad attempt at getting a picture of Em smiling with the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey sign behind her.  We were leaving at the time, so I guess she just wasn't feeling it.