Elephants, Lions, and...Dragons?

So what do dragons have to do with elephants and lions?  Why, the circus of course...

Evan had been asking (not too incessantly but occasionally) throughout the year when it would be time for the circus again.  They let it "slip" last year that this year's theme would be about dragons and that got him really excited.  Last year when we took the boys, Brody was only about 9 months old.  He did very well for a 9 month old but did fall asleep at the intermission.  This year, he stayed awake for the whole show although Daddy did hold him right at the end.  He only had to be reprimanded a couple of times for disturbing the people in front of us.  Ha!  I think Evan really enjoyed the show, especially when the dragon finally made his appearance at the end.  I actually thought the finale wasn't too spectacular this year, but I think that's because for some reason they didn't do intermission until there was only about 15 minutes left of the show.  I'm not really sure what the point of that was, but it just made the finale seem really short.  We had promised Evan a special treat at the circus (do you know how expensive that stuff is?  Yikes!).  He, of course, wanted yet another sword...he has quite a collection!  When we went to the restroom, Mommy actually spied some money on the floor.  Ugh!  She really didn't want to touch it and actually looked at it really closely before she "risked" picking it up to make sure it was more than just a dollar.  Ha!  When she realized it was a $20 bill, she picked it up with two fingers and stuffed it in Evan's pocket and told him he could use it to get something but not to touch it.  Then, we washed our hands thoroughly of course.  Haha!  He and Daddy went to get his sword and also picked Brody up a lovely stuffed Barnum and Bailey elephant as a keepsake.  We won't even go into how much that one cost.  Upon leaving the arena after the show, we discovered it had been raining and was very wet outside (we had actually had some tornado warnings in the area that night).  We had been lucky to park in a lot that wasn't too far away, but the rain started pouring down again just before we made it to the car.  Brody was loving running through the rain with Daddy...Mommy not so much!

My boys are excited to be at the circus.  We had to arrive early so that we could go down on the floor and see some performers up close. 

Dragons!

The boys got to "ride" a stunt bike from the show. 

Of course, the show started with the singing of the National Anthem. 

The ring leader takes the stage. 

Lots of colorful dragon themed decor. 

Evan looks so serious as he watches the show. 

Stunt horse riding. 

Lions and Tigers

That lion knew he was the king!

Awww, what a nice kitty!

Brody enjoying the show with his daddy. 

A costume change for the ring leader. 

Evan liked these sword wielding samurai warriors.

Mommy's favorite part!

Amazing how such big animals can be so graceful. 

Elephant doing his cute trick of sitting down like a person. 

And finally, here comes the dragon!

Fire breath and all!