Thursday, April 7, 2011

Life's a Circus

Life has seemed a little circus-y lately. Some days I feel like a trapeze artist trying to balance everything and not fall! Most days I feel I have one of the worst jobs at the circus- cleaning up the elephant poo. More often than not, I feel like one of the lion tamers on one of those shows, "When Animals Attack," when the trained animals wait for the perfect opportunity to take advantage of their trainer's vulnerability. All in all, our circus can be quite entertaining. (just ask my parents when they try to skype with us!)

We took a trip recently to the real circus and I'm not so sure it was a hit. We managed to grab three free tickets for Max, Luke and their cousin Jake. (Thank goodness since a kid's ticket is $12!) There was way too many things going on at once for the kids to focus on the entertainment. I wonder just how much money the food vendors make at those things, going constantly up and down the aisles. We had to keep putting Jakey’s hand down as the snow cone and cotton candy guy came by. The little boys only showed interest when the scantly clad rope swinging ladies came out (I don't know what their official title is). I was more entertained by all the carni-folk who all seemed to have some sort of soap opera type lifestyle going on in the background of the circus culture.

Luke's favorite part of the circus?... snacks found in the diaper bag, of course. The most attention Max gave the three rings... This was before the circus started and I'm pretty sure an elephant was pooping. I'll let you come up with your own caption. Cotton candy was a big hit for Jake. Max squished it with enough hand sweat to make it nice and sticky then threw it on the floor.

This was what was going on the majority of the time. Luke has a mouthful of dropped popcorn from the row behind us and Joey was kind enough to let us share this giant communal lemonade to which I was the official drink supervisor.
Three popped balloon animals and one crabby momma later, we headed out just as the death-defying dirtbikes in a metal ball was getting started. The circus is just too long for 3 squirmy little boys... and me! I really hate crowds. Once we left the crazy circus, I let out a long sigh of relief. I guess it could be compared to life. We have to go out in the crazy world and deal with some real characters, but isn't it nice to come home to a safe (sometimes quiet) place? I think that is the main reason I want to stay home with my crazy circus animals, I want to make sure they have somewhere safe to retreat to so they know what is real and right, not just an act or illusion. So in a way, I guess the circus makes me grateful for being a mom!

4 comments:

Matt N Karen said...

Been there done that!! I agree home is the best!

jessica said...

I hear you. Don't you ever wish you could charge admission for people who witness all the fun times? At least then you could buy some chocolate to remind yourself it's all worth while and we have kids because we love the circus, but don't want to have to wear tights everyday;)

SarahPyrah said...

you are the best auntie in the world. who else would take Jake to go see an Elephant poop

Jen Johnson said...

Luke and Caleb totally get along great. Any thing on the floor is free game (not just food). You are one brave mama! I haven't taken the boys there yet and I'm not sure how much longer we are going to wait just because I can't keep Caleb in one spot still :)