A Circus of a Weekend...Literally.

I've never been to the circus but the Beja Shrine Circus was in town and with Chris away this weekend I thought it would be a fun thing for Jackson and I to do. I'm surprised at both of our reactions to what we saw. First off, you could almost have a seizure with all of the dizzying lights, sounds, colors, people, etc. Carnie-type vendors were running up and down the aisles selling flashing wands, life savers, food and music makers. It was crazy, LOUD and really kind of gross. Jackson had his hands over his ears the majority of the time and I wanted to as well.

The first 'act' was the tigers. This whole set-up bothered me. The spazz (trainer) in the cage lunged, fake hit and teased the tigers. They swatted, roared and lunged back at him, eventually doing what he wanted. The whole thing just seemed unnatural and wrong, not the feeling I expected from the circus. The rest of the time was a lot of people hanging from ropes, riding BMX bikes, or dancing. We left after an hour and two requests from Jackson, "Can we go home?" That was my first and last time at the circus.

The funniest story of the weekend: Sunday Jackson and I went to church. He did really well but the ants in his pants got to be a little too much and he wiggled himself right off the pew onto the floor. He stood up with a sulking face and said, "I fell on my butt and it hurts. Will you kiss it?" I started laughing, thinking to myself, I'm glad everyone is singing so they don't hear this! I said back to Jackson, "No, I'm not going to kiss your butt." He said "Why?" Then the music ended and it was silent. Jackson continued saying, "Can I kiss your butt?" Everyone turned and looked at us. I was laughing so hard I couldn't even respond to him which caused him to repeat his request. We sat down and I tried not to make eye contact with anyone. It was hilarious!



The Tiger Act