The Greatest Show on Earth

Last night my sweet husband took me to see The Greatest Show on Earth. Yes, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to town, and we got to go! As far as I can remember, I've never been to a circus (Mom and Dad, please forgive me if you've taken me and I just don't remember!), so this was a really special treat for me. I was dazzled and amazed by the ridiculous things these people and animals do. I got to see:

A woman juggling horses. No, really. The first act we saw was a woman with six trained white horses. It was neat to see them spinning in unison and following her instructions depending on how she flicked her whip. At one point, she had 3 of them weaving in and out of each other - looked like she was juggling them! Very cool.

An Upside-Down World. This is the act they were promoting in their commercials. This husband and wife duo were somehow suspended by their feet and juggling, drinking water, and dancing - all upside down.

Of course, the trapeze artists and tightrope walkers. I was expecting these ones, but that didn't make them less impressive. I was biting my fingernails, gasping, and covering my eyes just like everybody else. I think the part Justin was most impressed with was when 2 of the tightrope walkers got on bicycles on the tightrope with a bar connecting their shoulders. Then the lady tightrope walker crawled out to the middle of the bar and did a handstand on it. Talk about balance! Cool stuff.

Gail and her Flying Canines. This lady had 2 trained dogs and they had worked out a routine of the dogs jumping high in the air to catch Frisbees. I was just impressed at how well-trained the dogs were. They KNEW that routine and knew what was coming next. Even if they missed a Frisbee, they just went right on and caught the next one. I think that would be a fun life to be a dog trainer.

The Amazing Bulgarians. This group of about 15 people did amazing stunts using a see-saw looking thing to catapult one of them into the air to be caught or land in a certain position. At one point, they were standing on each other's shoulders, FOUR people high, and then the fifth one was catapulted up and landed on top - a stack of people FIVE high! Now that was cool.

And lastly, my favorite was the sweet elephant. They had her all covered in glitter with a silly head-thing on that she had to keep shaking out of her eyes. But she was so well-trained, just like the dogs. The trainer didn't have to give her any instructions, she knew what to do. The trainer just spent most of the time riding on her tusks and climbing around on her. I was most impressed when she got all four feet up on a little stand and then spun around while carrying the trainer in her tusks. Sweet girl. Maybe I could be an elephant trainer instead of a dog trainer... :)

So we had a great time, and I'm very thankful to my sweetie who took me out for a fun night. Happy Spring Break!