Circus in Town

Yesterday, the circus was in town. Well....maybe not our town, but close enough. So, last night we took the 30 minute drive to Brighton, CO to see the Jordon World Circus. The Ferris family joined us for the evening. It was the kids first circus experience. I remember going to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus when I was a kid. I don't even remember who I went with, but I do remember wanting to be a clown or a juggler afterward.
The Jordon World Circus was a small circus, but you couldn't tell by the price. The kids got in free because we got coupons, but Joi and I had to pay $17.00 per ticket to get in. Certainly not cheap. But, it was the boys' first circus experience...so we went for it. The boys were excited about seeing their first circus and we talked excitedly on the way about possibly seeing lions, tigers, and bears (Oh my!). There were tigers. Beautiful Siberian Tigers. They were probably my favorite part of the show. Their tricks were nothing to be excited about, but they were just so beautiful to see close up. They did jump through a burning hoop, which made me and my boys giddy. There were also bears. Again, the tricks were not exciting...but during the intermission, we got within a few feet of the bear and took a couple pictures. I said "Boys...hopefully this is as close as you will ever get to a real bear." There were elephants...and Joi pointed out that they just looked sad. They did look sad...which prompted a conversion on the way home about how God created these animals to be free and wild and that caging them and forcing them to do tricks is just not what God created these animals to do. There was one clown and he was the lamest clown I have ever seen. He wasn't funny. He was almost lewd. Picture an old drunk uncle dressed up like a clown trying to be funny...but just being gross and stupid. That was this guy. They had various types of aerial acrobatics. Unfortunately, the women were dressed inappropriately. Women in body suits, thongs, and exploding cleavage...just didn't seem kid friendly to me. My boys turned to me and asked if they should look. I told them to watch the guy in the group or to watch the stage crew disassemble the cages. It was just uncomfortable and inappropriate.There were motorcycle guys in a steel ball riding around in circles. That was pretty cool, but it filled the indoor arena with toxic exhaust fumes and made me dizzy. In retrospect, it was a somewhat disappointing experience. Perhaps we should have waited for the Ringling Brothers to come into town. The boys did seem to enjoy themselves and seeing some of those exotic animals up close was pretty darn cool. I just remember the circus being so magical when I was a kid. The Jordon World Circus didn't live up to my expectations. I'd post pics...but most of them turned out too dark. The lighting was weird. Anyway...so much for the circus. Maybe a better one will come into town someday and we'll try again.