Elephants, Snakes, Hippos and Llamas. Oh My!

The circus mailed us FREE tickets (that is free for the kids and twenty two bucks-- yes, $22!! for an adult -- ok $11 if you count that the coupon admitted two adults for the price of one)) to the circus! Well, with that price (tongue in cheek here) who could resist?? (OK - we admit that we didn't read the "free" tickets closely enough - but we would have gone anyways . . .) ANYWHO - it was a lot of fun! There were some CRAZY acts in the three rings before intermission - one skinny little flexi guy fit himself into a suitcase that would not have taken me on an overnight trip!!, and the hula-hoop girls were amazing, the dogs and horses went around in circles and the clowns danced (well, the clowns weren't very amazing, but they DID make the kids laugh). However, I was holding a sleeping Oligator and keeping his exposed ear plugged (because it was LOUD in that hot tent) so I didn't get any photos of tose things. Here are the photos I DID get. In addition to these lovely memories, we got to spend the time with our neighbors and friends: Marianne, mei-mei and julietta -- and Rudy, teaghan and london. (PS congrats to that fam on the birth of their son that afternoon!!)
How'd he get up there? This was a shot of the trapeze artist flipping off of his swing. Pretty cool where he ended up in this shot.SO, the elephant rides were by far the best event at the circus for our kids. Ezra and I got to ride way up in the front of one elephant. Of course, I had the camera so no one got a shot of us. Aurelia and her little friend, Teaghan, rode the next elephant. It was so much fun to see them up there giggling together!
Yes, we paid to have the kids posed with a snake and if you click on the photo and look closely you'll see that it was shedding. Check out the kids! Aurelia was scoping out the skin and Ezra was captivated by th snake's face. Outside, after the circus, they had a great petting zoo, a jumper, a really gross bathroom, and some rides (I think). They had a zebra in a pen and a baby hippo swam around in a little tub playing with the strings above it. Boy is it ugly or what? Click on the photo for an enlarged view. Ugh! They are not as cute as the drawings in kids' books make them look. Those beady, red eyes make it look evil. . . ok - that's enough of that. Moving on . . .
I love this photo of Jason, so I had to post it - he's still the man of my heart! Hereare Aurelia and Ezra filling up their hands with food for the animals . . .
Ezra felt more comfortable feeding the goats. They are smaller and not as greedy I guess. More his speed, anyways.
Aurelia fed all the animals, but this one llama got the most, I think. It sure is pretty (as compared to that hippo. . .)
Mima gave me a break and held onto her littlest sweetie while the kids fed the animals. Don't they look comfy together?

All together it was an interesting experience. We'll probably wait a couple of years before going again, but I'm glad we made it out this year!