Under the Big Top!

Lions, Tigers and Bears... OH MY!  

The Circus is in town!

We took Andrew to his very first circus on Saturday night.

And he loved it!

Well, almost.

He wasn't a big fan of these guys!  In order to get a clown nose, he was supposed to go have his picture taken with a clown.  But we had to settle for the clown taking a picture of Andrew and mommy (above).  Ha!

But it was so worth it!  He loved it when daddy and mommy wore the nose, too!  Sorry, no pictures of me with the nose on!

Andrew was pretty mesmerized by the whole thing.

The trapeze artists fascinated him.

Oh no!  Don't fall trapeze guy!

This was honestly the best part of the whole thing.

Bears riding on bicycles.

Well, the bears and watching Andrew's face light up!

We were somewhat far away from the center ring, although not too bad.  Just not quite close enough to get a great picture with the new camera!  Now I see the need to invest in the extra zoom lens!  Ha!  I think I better wait a while for that or Craig will kill me!

Andrew is always so fun to watch.  He just loves everything!  He sat on his chair almost the whole time and watched.  Craig and I were slightly disappointed by the lack of performing animals.  We saw bears.  But that was it the first half (and by half, I mean the first 2 hours!) 

At intermission they got out the circus elephants and ponies and jumping houses and bouncy slides.

And you could ride the animals and jump to your hearts content.

All for a price.

I wasn't sure about letting Andrew ride a giant elephant.  Not just yet.  I am pretty brave, but not that brave.   So he watched.

And I took pictures of other kids riding the elephants.  Because my camera is fun like that.

We let Andrew hug a giant Shriner hat.  Normally he hates these things.  But this was free.  And he loved it!

We let him go on the giant slide.  Three slides for $5 bucks.

He was loving it until his 3rd turn was over.

So we got him a lion and called it a night.

"Roar!"

After all, he doesn't know he missed performing chimps, lions, tigers and whatever else they decided to bring out the second half.  I was disappointed that he didn't get to see those things, but by the time intermission was over it was 9:20.  I was slightly annoyed that they wouldn't bring out the acts with the animals until half the kids there were half asleep, but this was one time I couldn't be the ringleader!

And Andrew was as happy as a clam.  The whole way out he kept saying "I got a lion...roar!"  And that's what it is all about.

He looks upset in this picture- but this is his serious/content face.  Despite the fact that it was 10:00 at night and I had insisted on a bath (giant slides=bath time!) he still wanted to read his Bible with daddy.  And the lion wanted to watch.  And it also took up half of Andrew's bed because there was no way he was going to sleep without it!

So Andrew and the lion had sweet circus dreams...

And next time the circus is in town, we'll know to go for an earlier time.  And maybe by then Andrew will be old enough to ride an elephant.