Circus

It was circus time again in our little town, which meant that the kids would be going to the circus, whether we liked it or not! I was somewhat underwhelmed by the last circus to visit, and to be perfectly honest was not really looking forward to this one, but such are the duties of a parent. This time, however, Chloe agreed to come with me, which was appreciated. I picked the kids up from the nanny's and quietly whispered into both of the kids ears: "who wants to go to the circus?". I was whispering because I didn't know if the other kids would be going, and I didn't want their parents to hate us after they were dragged to the circus by their kids. Anyway, my plan backfired badly and both kids started joyously prancing around and yelling "Yaaaaaaay Circus! CIRCUS! CIRCUS!" in front of the wide eyes of the other kids. We walked to the circus, which was set up in the small local park, paid for tickets, and entered the tent. Unfortunately there were not many seats left, and the remaining seats (actually all of them were like this) were gymnasium style wooden benches with no back support. Not a big deal, except there was no place to put your feet either! The result was a somewhat painful sitting experience, made more difficult by the fact that I had to hold onto both kids to prevent them from falling into the holes between the benches. Chloe eventually showed up, and the show started amidst the usual fanfare. The circus was better than the previous one that I had been to, and the kids loved it. Zoe in particular had a look of pure delight and excitement the entire time. It started with the introduction of the first of two horses: a somewhat stunted and perhaps optimistically named "Prince" who ran around the ring in circles and would occasionally put a hoof up on the ring. Then there was a bigger horse, a pony, a dromedary and then a camel. Even I thought the camel was cool, albeit a bit malodorous. Next there were various circus-y things like unicycling, swinging from a rope, and Zoe's favorite: the clown. The best part of the clown show, judging from the roar of the children, were the simulated farts. Indeed, it was all she could talk about on the walk home.