Toby Tyler Day

One of the things I love about having children is that I get to relive some of the best parts of childhood (you're kind of forced to). This week, we went to the circus, which I seriously doubt I would do if I didn't have kids, which is not good. Every time I do something like this for or because of the kids, I leave with a heart uplifted.
It was great! Everyone was so happy and psyched to be there. There was a palpable excitement in the air and I couldn't stop thinking about the cliché of children wanting to run away and join the circus. Maybe that feeling never really goes away.
There were elephants, tigers, horses, dogs, and all of the costumes were sparkly and colorful. The performers definitely looked more interesting than most of my neighbors.
Now, it was a bit stinky because of the animals (presumably...although it could have been Cooper), and I'm sure that living out of a trailer and moving from town to town has it's disadvantages. However, it's hard to focus on that when you're watching a woman hanging from her hair a hundred feet off the ground, twirling like a top and releasing glitter into the air. Wow!
We ate popcorn and drank Sprite, which was a lot more fun than being in school.
The ringmaster was a woman, and she had very cool costumes.
Here she is with some high-kickin' ladies.

Has Cooper seen a scary clown?

Yes.

The tigers. I was sort of hoping they would attack their fat tamer.

This man, whose name was Johnny, had a great array of dogs that he had rescued, over time, from local shelters. These dogs seemed to be having more fun than anyone, human or animal.


The family of acrobats who rode horses standing up. The horses pooped an awful lot, so the family had to do a lot of shoveling in between standing on the horses' backs, but they didn't seem to mind, it's just part of the job.

Griffin was a big fan of this hula-hoop girl.

The popcorn was excellent.

In the end, we did go home, but I know I spent a lot of time wondering about what it must be like to live under the big top. I'm glad I live in a town where circuses are still very much alive and part of the local culture. It's probably better than actually running away.