We parked across from Philips and headed in to the CNN Food Court for dinner. Ryan picked up Chick-fil-a for the girls and a philly cheesesteak for himself while I chose a Gorins sandwich. We happened across a table at just the right time, so we enjoyed dinner before heading in the arena. We got inside a few minutes after 7, and they were letting people onto the floor to get up close to some of the acts, but the floor was absolutely packed. We decided it wasn't really worth the hassle to try getting down there, so we headed back out to get the promised dessert and souvenir. Each girl was thrilled to get a necklace that lights up and flashes lots of bright colors (they look pretty cool in the dark) and a multi-color slushy in a white tiger cup. I also got a lemonade because I am a sucker for fresh-squeezed lemonade.We headed back in about 10 minutes before show time. Both girls were excited though Molly was already a little tired. Lily however was nothing short of giddy. She kept asking so many questions, even during the show. What's that big block for? What's going to happen next? Why are they doing that? Can I have a sip of your lemonade? Who is going to come out? Why is that so many different colors? Do you think there will be clowns? Can I have another slushy after I finish this one? Can I have popcorn? What do you think their costumes will look like? Will there be elephants and zebras and giraffes? It just made me laugh though because I could see and hear her excitement! Here's a picture before the show started of her asking one of those many questions.
The nice lady in front of us snapped this picture before everything started. You can see the girls had their necklaces flashing away and were enjoying their slushies.
We had pretty decent seats that gave us a great overview of the whole floor. Here's what the entrance looked like to the floor.
Finally, the ringmaster came out and the show began! Lily sat forward in her seat almost the entire show taking it all in and asking about all of it. She was loving it. Of course, the opening number brought out almost all of the acts to walk around and wave; this made Lily even more excited as she saw all the costumes and her imagination went into overdrive about what everyone would do.
One of the very first acts up was the circus classic tiger tamer. I think Lily liked this because of her tiger slushy cup (which she affectionately named Tiger Lily and has held tightly too ever since Friday night). There were eight tigers in the ring with one brave man, and he made them do some pretty neat tricks. I kept noticing he would pull raw meat out from a little pouch on his hip to reward them. All I could think was how nervous I would be to have raw meat on me in a cage full of tigers. Thankfully, all went according to plan!
One of the next acts was both Ryan and my favorite of the evening. They have this little globe that comes out and motorcyclists do cool riding tricks in it. They started out with four riders, but they had up to seven (7!) in there at one point. This picture is pretty blurry because they were going so fast, but they were awesome. It looked really cool too because their costumes lit up as they drove around. I remember this act being really loud when I was a kid, but it wasn't at all this time which I was thankful for because Lily doesn't like loud noises. She said later she really liked this part too.
Last act before intermission was the trapeze artists. They were on the other side of the floor from us (we had a motorcycle on a tightrope right in front of us later in the show), but they were pretty cool to watch too. The girls needed a potty break in the middle of this part so we didn't see all of it. We liked what we did see though.
The girls during intermission. I really think they were having so much fun together.
One of the next acts was both Ryan and my favorite of the evening. They have this little globe that comes out and motorcyclists do cool riding tricks in it. They started out with four riders, but they had up to seven (7!) in there at one point. This picture is pretty blurry because they were going so fast, but they were awesome. It looked really cool too because their costumes lit up as they drove around. I remember this act being really loud when I was a kid, but it wasn't at all this time which I was thankful for because Lily doesn't like loud noises. She said later she really liked this part too.Last act before intermission was the trapeze artists. They were on the other side of the floor from us (we had a motorcycle on a tightrope right in front of us later in the show), but they were pretty cool to watch too. The girls needed a potty break in the middle of this part so we didn't see all of it. We liked what we did see though.The girls during intermission. I really think they were having so much fun together.
Also during intermission, we caved and bought popcorn. Molly didn't want any, but Lily tore into it. What a night of treats for her!
Opening back up after intermission. They brought out a lot of the side show type acts at this point...man walking on glass and then fire, snake charmers, strong man, woman twirling in the air while being held up by her hair, lots of clowns coming out of a little car, etc. A little hokey, but entertaining nonetheless.
The trapeze artists were up after that, and they were amazing to watch. I think it would be so much fun to be a trapeze person...well, as long as the safety net is under me.
Hands down, this was Lily's favorite part of the night. She talked multiple times about the elephants coming out while holding each other's tails. She thought this was the coolest trick ever. Molly said she liked this part a lot too. It was pretty fun to watch these big animals perform their tricks!
I liked this part of the elephant show. Look how much bigger the elephant on the left is to the trainer standing in front of him. These elephants were HUGE. On a random side note, when Ryan and I were almost to the Port of Tampa on our cruise a few weeks ago, we got stopped at an intersection by a policeman directing traffic. We were wondering what was going on, and then all of a sudden, all of these circus elephants came walking down the street followed by all the other animals. The circus was in Tampa that weekend, and the animals were out getting their exercise! Anyway, the elephant part of the show was really fun.
The next part of the show was really cool too. They had see-saws out. One person would stand at one end and then either one or two people would jump on the other end sending the first person flying into the air to do tricks. At one point, Lily asked me about what they were doing, so I explained the concept. She then said "I wish we knew how to jump on a see-saw like that cause then we could be in the show." She was very serious by the way. I really think her mind was trying to figure out to do that. These are some seriously talented people.
The last act up was the trampoline. There were six trampolines of various sizes, and the people did all sorts of cool tricks on them. Again, this picture is a little blurry because of how fast they were moving, but I wanted to put it in because it shows how precise they were. Their costumes looked great in the dark, so it was pretty fascinating to watch.
The closing ceremony brought out all the acts (except for the tigers and snake charmers) and confetti rained down from above. The girls were clapping and we could see what a great time they had. We headed out just before they brought the house lights up, and we were in the car and out of the parking garage within ten minutes. Awesome.
The girls also had a lot of fun on the car rides. They were excited on the way down, but you could hear them getting tired on the way back home. They were laughing and having fun, but you could just tell; it was coming up on 10 which is way past both their bed times! They were playing a game where one would pretend to fall asleep and the other would drop a little trinket in the tiger cup; the other girl would "wake up" to see what was inside. They were both cackling with laughter at one point, and about 30 seconds later there was extreme silence. Molly then says "Um, Allison? I think she's really asleep." Ryan looked back and sure enough, Lily was out! She just couldn't wait any longer. About 2 minutes later, Molly was sound asleep too. We got home, we opened and shut car doors, car lights came on, I unbuckled Lily, removed her seat belt, picked her up and carried her all the way to the kitchen door before she woke up in my arms. She immediately asked where Molly was, and I told her Daddy was taking her to her house; we would see her again soon. She fell right asleep that night.
The trapeze artists were up after that, and they were amazing to watch. I think it would be so much fun to be a trapeze person...well, as long as the safety net is under me.
Hands down, this was Lily's favorite part of the night. She talked multiple times about the elephants coming out while holding each other's tails. She thought this was the coolest trick ever. Molly said she liked this part a lot too. It was pretty fun to watch these big animals perform their tricks!
I liked this part of the elephant show. Look how much bigger the elephant on the left is to the trainer standing in front of him. These elephants were HUGE. On a random side note, when Ryan and I were almost to the Port of Tampa on our cruise a few weeks ago, we got stopped at an intersection by a policeman directing traffic. We were wondering what was going on, and then all of a sudden, all of these circus elephants came walking down the street followed by all the other animals. The circus was in Tampa that weekend, and the animals were out getting their exercise! Anyway, the elephant part of the show was really fun.
The next part of the show was really cool too. They had see-saws out. One person would stand at one end and then either one or two people would jump on the other end sending the first person flying into the air to do tricks. At one point, Lily asked me about what they were doing, so I explained the concept. She then said "I wish we knew how to jump on a see-saw like that cause then we could be in the show." She was very serious by the way. I really think her mind was trying to figure out to do that. These are some seriously talented people.
The last act up was the trampoline. There were six trampolines of various sizes, and the people did all sorts of cool tricks on them. Again, this picture is a little blurry because of how fast they were moving, but I wanted to put it in because it shows how precise they were. Their costumes looked great in the dark, so it was pretty fascinating to watch.
The closing ceremony brought out all the acts (except for the tigers and snake charmers) and confetti rained down from above. The girls were clapping and we could see what a great time they had. We headed out just before they brought the house lights up, and we were in the car and out of the parking garage within ten minutes. Awesome.
The girls also had a lot of fun on the car rides. They were excited on the way down, but you could hear them getting tired on the way back home. They were laughing and having fun, but you could just tell; it was coming up on 10 which is way past both their bed times! They were playing a game where one would pretend to fall asleep and the other would drop a little trinket in the tiger cup; the other girl would "wake up" to see what was inside. They were both cackling with laughter at one point, and about 30 seconds later there was extreme silence. Molly then says "Um, Allison? I think she's really asleep." Ryan looked back and sure enough, Lily was out! She just couldn't wait any longer. About 2 minutes later, Molly was sound asleep too. We got home, we opened and shut car doors, car lights came on, I unbuckled Lily, removed her seat belt, picked her up and carried her all the way to the kitchen door before she woke up in my arms. She immediately asked where Molly was, and I told her Daddy was taking her to her house; we would see her again soon. She fell right asleep that night.
About 6:30 Saturday morning, she came into our room, but went right back to sleep against me. About 7:15, she stretched, said "Did you tell Bama all about the circus?" and promptly fell back asleep before I could answer. She stayed conked out in our bed until about 8:30. When she woke up, we immediately started talking all about it again because she wanted to relive all the details. I love doing fun things like this that I know give great family memories for all of us!
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