Under the Big Top

At the end of March, we took the kids for their first circus experience... a traveling circus called Carson & Barnes Circus. Since it was right here in Allen, we decided to go to the 1:30 show after lunch.

Here Ben is walking to "the Midway" with Lila and Wyatt. The Midway consisted of a pony ride, a train ride and an inflatable slide. We didn't know what to expect so we got there early.

 

We let Lila do the pony ride. Wyatt said "no thanks."

However, they were both willing to ride the train. It went in a very small loop.

I don't know why Wyatt decided to ride by himself in the middle car.

By the second go round, he wasn't so sure about riding the train!

But of course, Lila enjoyed it and Wyatt made it through without crying. By then the circus had opened its doors, so we made our way into the tent.

Since we were early, we were able to get good seats in the front row. 

We also got to walk around in the ring (this was a one-ring, not a three-ring, circus).

A pic of Lila and Mommy

While we were waiting for the show to begin, we bought some cotton candy (I don't have any pics because I didn't want to get my camera sticky.) Lila had been asking to try cotton candy whenever she saw it. The verdict? She was not a fan. Wyatt was even less so. We could barely convince him to try it! Neither Ben or I are fans of the sweet stuff either, so I'm glad we won't be buying any more of that in the future! Finally, the show was ready to start! The ringmaster came out and the music started.

I looked over to see Lila's reaction and this is what I found.

Of course, who could blame her when these guys are the first thing out? They looked a bit creepy to me too.

She did look up for the elephants. That little guy riding the elephant was Alex, the main clown who did several little funny routines throughout the show.

There were several performers, including a high wire act.

Apparently it was a little scary to watch them! (If something is scary, she covers her ears.)

There was also a brother and sister who rode unicycles.

But the biggest hit of the circus? POPCORN. It was yummy stuff.

We bought two boxes of it, it was so good.

Here Wyatt is yelling "you want some popcorn, elephant?" during the intermission.

Here's a pic of what everyone else was doing during intermission: waiting in lines to ride the elephant, get your face painted or buy peanuts.

Here's what my kids were doing: climbing up and down the bleachers and eating popcorn.

The face painting was $5. The popcorn was $3. We definitely got our money's worth out of that popcorn!

Another fun act to watch.

Lila finally let Wyatt hold the popcorn box.

Because it was empty.

Lions and tigers and bears elephants, oh my!

Yep, the elephants made a few appearances as they were the only animals in this circus.

Piper started the circus asleep, woke up for the middle, and slept through the end.

I thought it was a pretty decent show and just right for our little kiddos. It probably could have been a little shorter for Wyatt, but he hung in there. As we came out of the tent, Lila exclaimed, "I thought it was night time!" So I guess she had a good time if she forgot it was the afternoon!