Clowning Around

On Thursday, July 23rd, we were able to see Cirque du Soliel's Saltimbanco show. We were given some tickets for a suite. The show was great. This was the fourth show that Daddy-O and I have seen, but was Leah, Kate and my brother, J.T.'s first. J.T. and Leah were super impressed and watched every minute with their jaws on the ground. Kate enjoyed the snacks and running around the suite. In hind sight, we should have called the sitter for her. I shouldn't be allowed to vote since I wrangled kids for the majority of the show, but it wasn't my favorite. I think a lot of it was the distractions. Even more disappointing was that it was in a basketball arena instead of the classic Cirque tent. I felt like I lost some of the connection with the performers because of the distance. Regardless, it was still a fun experience.

On Friday, July 24th, Mammy and Pops took us to Ringling Bros. circus. Leah has been a few times, but this was Kate's first trip. We started the night on the floor looking at the animals and watching the clowns up close. Kate seemed interested for about 5 minutes and then wanted to run around. Leah really "got it" this year. She thought the jokes were funny and was amazed at the tricks.

We took our seats in time for the show to start. We were in a VERY crowded section and Kate and I sat next to another large lady and her 1 year old. So basically there were 4+ of us in 2 of the seats. It was slightly more crowded than a can of sardines. It was near impossible to move, since my "new friend" was sitting on half of my lap. Kate was on the other. While I tried to keep Kate folded like a pretzel to avoid kicking the man in front of us, I juggled her sippy and snacks. I didn't see much of the first half as I fixated on the completely empty section to my right. I let Daddy-O know that at intermission, Kate and I were out of there. There was no hope of getting any pictures for the first half.

At intermission I asked the usher if we could move to the abandoned section and her response was nothing short of heavenly, "Any where you want, sweetheart". AHHH, music to my ears. I drug Kate, all her stuff and my very asleep (from lack of circulation) leg over to a nice empty row. She could run, she could kick, she could do what ever she wanted. It was SO nice. All that to say, these are from the second half of the show. Towards the end Kate was exhausted and became quite delirious. I don't know where she got it from (hint: last photo).

Kate's favorite part was the circus delicacies such as pretzels, snow cones, popcorn and cotton candy. Leah's favorite part was the people dressed up as butterflies. Mine was watching the show through their eyes. A great time was had by all. Thanks for a wonderful time, Mammy and Pops!