Shriner's Circus

A few weekends ago we took Zoey to the Shiner's Circus. I was really excited about this because I remember going to the Shriner's Circus with my Grandma Cook one summer when I was staying with her. I thought Zoey would enjoy seeing all the animals and the different performers. I was told that there would also be carnival rides there, but I didn't really think too much about that because I figured we would be too busy enjoying the circus. Boy was I wrong!!!!

Zoey seemed excited when we first got there. We were lucky enough to have Scott's mom, as well as Scott's dad and his girlfriend along for the ride. My sister, niece, and nephew were supposed to go with us but bailed for various reasons, so we ended up having three extra tickets. So day of the circus, we talked Bev into coming, as well as Don and Connie. Zoey was in a good mood and seemed happy to have her family with her. She got super excited when we pointed out her cousin Jack was there with his parents too (we weren't sitting by them, but saw them in the stands).

With Grandpa and Connie

With Grandma Bev

Family Pic

Once the circus actually started, Zoey was interested for a few minutes and seemed enthralled by the women who twirl around in the scarfs.

Scott and I were both pretty excited to see that they had tigers. However, then the tiger show started. At one point Scott and I looked at each other and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. It was something along the lines of "I hope that tiger bites him". The tiger trainer was SO rough with the tigers. At one point he walked up to this beautiful white tiger and smacked it in the face. Then they had guys outside of the cage poking the tigers with sticks if they wouldn't do what they were supposed to. It was at that point that I realized that the magic of the circus had gone away for me.

Zoey started to get restless so Scott took her out of the main area to walk around a little but; however, he didn't take their tickets with him, so they couldn't get back in. Once I realized he had been trying to call me and I listened to his message, I went down to give them the tickets. However, Zoey really wanted to ride some of the carnival rides, so I got her a ride wristband. We ended up staying in that part of the circus for the rest of the time. While the circus was going on, there was hardly anyone down there, so Zoey didn't have to wait in line for any rides. She absolutely loved it. You can't tell from most of the pictures because I swear she knows when a camera is on her and she stops smiling or laughing.

 So even though we ended up not being big fans of the actual circus, we still ended up having a very good day. The downside was that Zoey didn't get to spend any quality time with her grandparents since they decided to watch the circus. That was a bit of a bummer.