From the Mouthes of Babes: Circus Edition

Ringling Brothers came to Reed Arena this weekend, so we thought it was high time that Eli experience his first circus.  We bought tickets with some of our friends, and had a great time.  The circus was, as always, exciting (and at times so stressful--I thought I was going to have a heart attack FOR the guy on the high wire), but my favorite part was definitely watching and listening to the kids' take on things.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the night:

En route to the show J and I overheard this exchange in the back of the car:

E: Can you ride on a baby tiger?

N: No, you can't ride on a baby tiger, unless it's at least 30 years old.

Norah: (at first the sight of the tightrope walkers): Mommy, why are those boys wearing sparkles?


Eli: (upon seeing the oriental knive diver produce a black, blindfold/face-sock from at his waistband and hold it up for the crowd to see) "Momma!? Is that his underwear!?" (This, of course was exclaimed at a volume level of about 110)

At the close of the show, the ringmaster put a beautiful blonde woman into a cage, then covered it with a sheet.  After briefly pausing to achieve optimum dramatic effect, he pulled the sheet away to reveal a massive Great Dane.  Eli was utterly astonished, and shouted in accusatory disbelief, "He turned her into a DOG!?!" (as if to say, "Did anyone else just see that!?  Are they just going to let him get away with it!?")

And finally, after the confetti popping, show-stopper of-a-finale, when the performers took their last bow, Eli shouted at the top of his lungs with total sincerity (and no prompting), "THANK YOU!!!"  Funny, sweet, little boy.

This was definitely my favorite trip to the circus thus-far.  Both kids are at an age where they were old enough to sit (relatively) still and watch the show.  (We bought 2 rows of 6 seats, so the adults sat in the back row, and the kids all sat in front of us below, which was super fun to watch.  Of course, they also spent a lot of time in and out of our laps, but it was nice to sprawl out--I would definitely buy tickets that way again)

N absolutely loved watching all of the animals perform-- the puppies and kitty cats, and the quick-change artist, in particular.  Eli's favorite, of course was the motorcycle cage.  He sat perfectly still for that part, and watched in awe, just saying "How do they do that?" over and over again.  Good times!