the circus is in town

wednesday night we went to the circus for the first time. since you all know me well-enough, i have to start with a disclaimer: being a card-carrying member of peta, i've been very leery of the circus for their reports of animal abuse. it seems that quite a while ago, ringling bros, barnam & bailey circus really changed their position, even opening up an asian elephant conservation. they have gone entirely to positive reinforcement, their violations (if any) are minor- more cosmetic than anything) and seeing them in person would help me to formulate my own, current opinion on the health and well-being of the animals.

so we attended "over the top" which really was over the top! it started at 6:30 with a free all-access pre-show which allowed you to get up close & personal with the clowns, the strong men, and some of the fancy ladies. everyone was super-friendly and the kids loved trying on the actual costumes. tegan and i stopped for a quick photo. you can see them here (images 21-25). as the show started, we were blown away- every act was better than the one before: motocycles on tightropes, contortionists, trapese artists and ladies hanging by their hair, clowns, and clowns and more clowns. it was like a vegas style show- with a booming ringmaster and tons of sequins.

kylinn stood up the entire time, though tegan was exhausted after intermission. the show is 7:30pm-10:00 pm with a one hour pre-show. it was a long night, but definately worth the money. honestly, we loved it and we will probably go back next year. i appreciated that the animals appeared to be well taken care of. the tigers were on the chubby side (in stark contrast to the sleek muscular ones at the zoo) and one elephant had a significant limp. since detroit sent our aging elephants to california, my kids have never seen one, let alone nine amazing elephants. the circus was really awesome, and absolutely worth going. the best part? possibly seeing seven motorcyclists in one of those round cages. it was absolutely insane. it was a really awesome night.

there are more photos and videos in our flickr. enjoy!