At the Circus

A few weeks ago, my nephew Cam got to go to the circus with my parents back in Colorado. Ever since knowing Cam was going and since talking to him afterwards, Zach has been asking when he can go to the circus. A week or two ago, Mike's mom and I were talking on the phone and she asked if I thought the boys would like to go to the circus. That was a no-brainer! So, Saturday morning, Curt and Linda came by early and picked the boys up to head out to the Shriner's Circus. My parents had warned me that it definitely was not "The Greatest Show On Earth," and therefore didn't really compare to Barnum and Bailey's circus, but that it was good enough for little kids. It couldn't have worked out better, though, because I had a soccer game at 10 and Mike had a tee time at 9:15, so this way the boys were happily occupied and so were Mike and me.

I met the boys and Linda after the game at Zach's soccer game; they had to leave the circus at intermission to get some lunch and get to his game on time, and I think that worked out ok. Zach was busy playing, so I asked Drew right away how the circus was, and I got a story in which the only word I could make out with certainty was "poopy," which left me wondering a little bit. So Drew repeated himself, and I understood, "Another one horsey poopy on floor." The full version of the story is that the boys were riding on horses or ponies and one pooped on the floor and held up the whole line, and then another one pooped. Apparently this made an impression on Drew!

So here's Zach on his pony.

Drew with Grandpa Curt on the pony.

Evidence to support Drew's story.

Throughout the day I got other bits and pieces about the circus. Drew's version- "Yellow snake! Tongue out!" Zach's interpretation- "There was a guy holding a big yellow snake, and his tongue kept coming out."

Another story Drew tells everyone is this- "Two elephants... walking... big trunks!" Zach's interpretation is that there were two elephants walking around with their trunks and tails interlocked. This is Drew's favorite story, and it's so cute to hear him tell it because he's just brimming with excitement each time.

The last story we hear a lot is this- "Bears... dancing..." There were bears dancing and riding bikes, I believe.

The boys must have done some inflatables before the show started.

We hoped that Drew wouldn't be freaked out by the clowns, and it seems like he was fine. He mentioned one thing to me about the clowns. "Red nose... funny paint on face!" was basically the story I got. I just love this picture because the boys (especially Zach) look so happy.

Before the show, Grandma and Grandpa told Zach and Drew that they could each pick out one thing to take home as a souvenir after the show. At first drew picked out this Superman blow-up doll that is as big as he is. Curt and Linda managed to talk him out of that (thank you!), but he ended up picking out an elephant that is almost as big as he is anyway. Oh well!

Zach picked out a gun. His first gun (sigh). I knew it was only a matter of time before he had a toy gun, and while it's something that I was against when Zach was a baby, I now know that boys will be boys, and part of that is playing/pretending with guns. It looks like a laser gun and it lights up and makes lots of neat noises (neat if you're 4; kind of annoying if you're the parent hearing the noises over and over again). Zach said he picked it out because it looks like it could be a Star Wars gun.

Here are the boys with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Curt. Thanks for taking them to the circus, Curt and Linda, and for the souvenirs they got. They love their new toys and had such a fun time! Thanks for sharing these pictures with us, too!