Thursday, July 2, 2009

"Mommy, My favorite part was when the clown dropped the phone in his pants!"

A couple of weeks ago we started the summer reading program at our public library. The kids read so many books...they get prizes. So this week their prize was a free circus ticket....the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus! So we figured out we could go on opening night...(last night, Wednesday, July 1). After all, every kid should go to the circus, right?

Well since the kids' tickets were "free" there was a catch. We had to physically exchange them at the box office. So early Wednesday morning Paul and Jacob took our "free" tickets down to the Alamodome to exchange them for real tickets. He also, of course, had to purchase him and I tickets. Paul got there just before the box office opened and was second in line...so no problem getting tickets. Promptly at 10:00am one box office window opened and the person in front of Paul stepped up to the window. Just as the person in front of Paul was finishing, the box office opened up 5 more windows simultaneously. Paul was stepping up to the first window and from behind him was a horrible noise. He turned around to see "middle-aged" and "older" women hurdling the barricades to get to the windows. He said that he had to grab Jacob and jerk him out of the way of the stampede of women before he was trampled. He stepped up to the window just before a "lady" cut him off and exchanged our tickets. Good news! On the opening day of the circus the tickets are discounted! Yay! So mine and Paul's tickets cost us $22.00. Not to bad.

***Circus Expense Count - $22.00 + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 1.***

So later that evening we go to Chik-fil-A for a pre-circus meal and we have a conversation with the kiddos about the expense and "quality" of the items sold at the circus. We explained that we were going just to watch the circus and we were not going to buy any of the "crap"...ahem..."junk"...ahem...TOYS from the circus. We then enjoy our pre-circus meal.

***Circus Expense Count - $22.00 + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 1 + $25.00 at Chik-fil-A***

On to the circus. We have to pay $10.00 to park.

***Circus Expense Count - $22.00 + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 1 + $25.00 at Chik-fil-A + $10.00 for parking***

We get there a little early and wander through all of the circus...um...TOYS to get to our seats and sit down. Just before the circus started the kids said they were thirsty, so Paul went to get a drink. He came back with a couple bags of peanuts a coke and a bottle of water. We had already said no to the $12.00 cotton candy and the $9.00 sno-cone or lemonade in the souvenir cup

***Circus Expense Count - $22.00 + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 1 + $25.00 at Chik-fil-A +$10.00 for parking + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 2 + $15.00 in Circus snacks***

After a trip to the bathroom the circus starts. It's mostly your run-of-the-mill circus but there were a few new things that were really cool. The tigers and elephants were all the same...the same since I saw them as a little girl. The clowns were funny, the Ringmaster was over the top, the acrobats twisted their bodies in wierd ways, and seven motorcycles rode around a cage.

At the end of the circus I asked my kids what their favorite part of the circus was. Surely it was the amazing tigers or the motorcycles in the cage or the trapeze artists or the enormous elephants or the music or the lights...

Nope. Their favorite part was when the clown put a ladies cell phone down his pants. Hilarious.

All in all we had a great time. So glad we got "free" tickets to go.

***Circus Expense Count - $22.00 + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 1 + $25.00 at Chik-fil-A +$10.00 for parking + Gas to and from the Alamodome part 2 + $15.00 in Circus snacks + 3 super happy kids = awesome.

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