Took the kids to see the circus yesterday. We had the best time. I had seen the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus as a child and really wanted to take the kids to see it too. I kept getting scared off by ticket prices. This time I threw grown-up-ness to the wind and got them.
The boys were so excited to see their first circus. Brian had never been to a circus before so this was his first as well. We got there an hour early so we could see the all access pre-show. They let everyone down on the floor and have different rings set up so you can see and try different activities and meet the performers. We got to meet the girl who does the acrobat act in the rings while Dylan tried on some really LOUD costume jackets from the wardrobe. Brenden got to have a tug of war with a couple of the clowns during one of their bits and had a hat juggler throw him a hat (which he totally messed up throwing back and almost hit another spectator in the face). We got to see the stilt walkers up close and get tattoos from a couple dancers. We watched Kelli the Elephant paint a picture with a paintbrush and easel. We got our own clown noses. It was quite the experience. There was so much to look at I didn't know where to start.
Then we got to our seats. The kids were mesmerized by the lights and sounds. There were tightrope walkers, trapeze artists, a motorcylist tight rope rider, motorcycles in a metal ball, tigers, horses, a dog riding a horse, contortionists, elephants, llamas, ponies, clowns, singing, dancing......you name it. The show went on for two hours with only a short intermission. The smoothness of the transitions between acts was so fluid you hardly noticed it. The real stars of the show are the techs.....fast and silent like ninjas.....although enough can't be said for the way the physical stunts were done and looked so effortless despite the stamina they took.
I did learn some things about myself at the circus... First, not all clowns freak me out. Usually they make me uncomfortable and something in my head screams "potential pedophile".....don't know why. I guess a combination of the news and Stephen King have ruined them for me for life.... Second, contortionists do freak me out. During their bit I had to keep looking away. There is something wrong with being able to fit three adult women in a tiny glass cube. and your head should never be able to look upside down at your butt. Third....either tigers, elephants, llamas, or ponies make my nose runny and itchy. I have a dog so I ruled that one animal out.
After the circus we were going to go bum at the zoo since its free in St Louis. However after thirty minutes of waiting in traffic, the lot for the zoo closed. We instead went to a park in the area and played with our boomerang that we bought at the circus while waiting for dinner time. When we were all tired out we went to the Hill neighborhood for dinner. We ended up getting there kind of early so we wandered through an authentic Italian corner store. We went back after dinner to pick up some real italian groceries for dinner this week and some gelato for dinner.
I would be remiss, however if I didn't tell you about dinner. We went to Cunettos on the Hill. OMG....homemade italian pasta. I started my meal with one of the best house salads EVER. Our waitress was this sweet italian lady (as in English is my second language) who doted on the boys and kept telling me how handsome they were. I ordered some fettucini carbonara which came in this bathtub sized bowl. I ate until I thought I was going to explode and had two more meals to take home. Dyl got ravioli which he inhaled and then used a spoon to eat all the sauce off (which if you know captain picky pants never happens). The waitress came by while he was spooning the sauce and then came back with a side order of spaghetti (gratis) because she felt worried that he was going to be hungry.
It ended up being close to 9pm when we got home (there was a closed expressway and a detour). We had left at 8am. (Brian and I had gone to see a band the night before so we were operating on about four hours sleep). The most amazing thing was, there was very little whining, bickering, or yelling yesterday. Our trip to the greatest show on earth lead to one of the greatest family days on earth that we've had in a long time....and I have 350 pics to remember it by :)
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