the circus...

the circus came to town this week. i wanted to take the kids, but then decided to boycott it based ont he fact that i thought it was a rip off.

keep in mind when i was a kid circuses had lions and elephants and loads of animals....not to mention i got VIP ringside seats and got to go hang out with the performers and animals afterwards (by some connection im not quite sure of we are related to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_Joseph_Ashton ) it was pretty cool. But the last time i went was when i was 16 i took a different group of people every night and took them all to meet the performers and Phyllis who was the matriach. Phyllis has since passed away and the circus as it was shut down. Like many circuses these days they lost alot of their animals thanks to animal rights activists.....dont get me wrong im all for animal rights. but these animals were born and bred into the circus. they were loved like family pets. but anyway thats another rant entirely.

anyway when i found out they had lions and elephants we decided to take the kids along. we told them we were going into town for a surprise and got off the bus right opposite the circus...the kids were beside themselves but we feigned ignorance saying we didnt know it was there and instead crossed the road to go to chinese. after dinner (which was so awsome both chels and maddy rocked at using chopsticks) we said we would go over and let them see the elephants. we also said seeing as how we werent going to teh circus they could have a ride on the teacups, the giant slide and the clowns. after all of that ryan told them the reason we couldnt afford tickets to the circus was because we had already bought them. when he bought them out they just went crazy and were hugging us and saying what tricksters we were. it was so cute.

then as we go to go in we are told they have two 8 month cubs (bred from generations of circus lions) and we could have our photo taken with them. well we did. the kids were beside themselves to get to pet and sit next to an 8 month lion cub.

we all had a greta night even though the kids were soooooooooooooo buggered by the end of it. audrey wouldnt sit down during the final act and maddy went to sleep. in the cab ride home just a few minutes in 3 were absolutely fast asleep.

it was a fantastic night out with the kids (even though i am still cringing at the $300+ i spent once you take into account cabs and dinner).

in a few years there will be no circuses left with animals and hopefully they will remember it forever.

jess