Under The Big Top

One lazy morning not so long ago, Lola woke up wanting a story. I told her one about Zadie, our sweet cocker spaniel, running off to join the circus. Then she made up her own story and began declaring many times a day how she wanted to go to the circus. Despite the theme of her nursery and baby shower being a cool retro carnivale/circus, we've never actually taken Lola to the Big Top. So when Randy found a flier for the Family Fun Circus being held in Edmond last week, he took off work early and we set out for the circus before our planned trick-or-treat trip to the Storybook Forest.

Lola was super excited. As we walked up to the Big Top, we passed the pony rides and she started begging right away. We assured her that she would definitely get to ride the pony but that the show was about to begin so we had to hurry inside the tent. We payed a crazy price to get in - but Lola was free- and $4 for two cans of Dr. Pepper. Then we took our seats. This is a good time to point out that the Ringmaster was more of a salesman than anything else. Between each act was a sales pitch and special deal. I was surprised how many people kept falling for the deals and even more surprised that Lola never begged for anything they were selling: light sticks, peanuts, balloons on a stick, pictures with SpongeBob.

The acts were pretty good. We were definitely entertained and you couldn't have beat our seats. We were super close to the action. The hoola hoop girl was pretty amazing. Especially after the impromptu hoola hoop contest we had at my parents not long ago. We had special appreciation for her talents. Lola loved watching the dancing horses and the aerial acrobatics. She was also excited to see SpongeBob SquarePants and she thought the young clown was pretty funny, too. Randy & I were probably most entertained by the obviously veteran human cannonball. We were actually amazed that he made it out of the cannon. You might be able to tell why by the photo up there.

Since it was the 4:30pm show and the crowd was pretty small, the cheering was lame. Randy, Lola & I took the roles of cheerleaders and led the crowd in appreciating the talent. Lola was hilarious. Everyone around us was laughing at how she was getting into the woohooing and clapping.

After the show, Lola rode the pony, bounced in the moonbounce, admired the animals at the petting zoo, and changed into her costume for the Storybook Forest. It was a pretty expensive couple of hours but totally worth it.