The Greatest Show on Earth

It all started a few weeks ago when we were at the Jamestown Public Library. Right there on the door to the room for children was a poster about the circus. The library was giving away free tickets for children, and all you had to was read 10 books to get them! Jackson was beyond excited! He had never been to the circus before, but had heard all about it (not sure where). Ten books? We could do that in a day! So, we grabbed our tracking sheet, checked out some books, and were on our way. We quickly finished the ten book requirement, but the library would not have the tickets available for pick-up until the week of the circus. I went ahead and ordered tickets online for Jason and me (which were more expensive that I thought they would be...but that's OK...Jackson was getting a free ticket and Selah was free anyway). Finally the day came. Jackson marched up to the check-out desk, tracking sheet completed and in hand, as proud and excited as he could be. Seeing the pride and anticipation in Jackson's eyes, the librarian's face fell. She said, "I'm so sorry. They only gave us 20 tickets to give away, and we just gave out the last one about 20 minutes ago." How could this be?!? I don't think I have ever seen Jackson more heartbroken. He had fulfilled his end of the bargain, and they/I had let him down. He tried to hold back the tears, but a few spilled out. I hugged him tight. I told him how I was so proud of him for reading the books (and writing most of them on the tracking sheet himself) and assured him that we would get him a ticket for the circus....especially since mommy and daddy had already spent close to $70 on their tickets. (Side note: Don't you think this was really the intention of the circus people anyway? To get the kids all excited about going, but then not giving away very many tickets, forcing the parents to spend the money? Well played, Bozo, well played.)

So, I ended up buying the cheapest ticket available and planned for both kids to sit on our laps. Not ideal, but workable. The big day arrived. After a big lecture to Jackson about how there would be lots of fun food and toys and things in there and that we were NOT buying ANY of them since we had to spend almost $100 to even GO to the circus we were off! The disappointment of the library catastrophe melted away when we took found our fantastic seats close to all the hoopla and on the aisle! Jackson had a great time and was truly enthralled by the show. His favorite part was the 12 clowns stuffed in a VW BUG dressed as superheroes. I'm not sure how I missed getting a picture of that part. Jason liked the trapeze act. It is truly amazing (and sometimes a little freakish) what these performers are capable of!

My favorite part was the elephant act. The elephants were what I remembered most about my trip to the circus with my kindergarten class when I was five years old.

I'm glad we went, even if that memory did cost me an arm and a leg. I'm just chalking it up to an early birthday present for my sweet birthday boy!