Fully Charged!

We went and saw Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey presents Fully Charged on Thursday night.  We were unable to get there to see the animals beforehand, which kinda bummed the kids out.  Next time!  As we were walking up there were people handing out coloring books.  If you go, don't take the coloring book unless you want the anti-circus literature that it is.  The protestors were fairly quiet, no yelling, which was nice.  We talked to the kids about the fact that there would be protestors and why they are protesting.  We talked about the fact that there are circuses, especially in other countries, that still treat their animals badly. 

Once inside we took the kids down to the main floor to see the preshow fun.  The kids got "Greatest Show on Earth" tattos on their hands.  They watched the jugglers and an aerialist (not sure what their actual title is).  We were barely able to sneak in a chance to try on the clown jackets before they put them away.  The clowns kept everyone entertained while we waited for the show to start.

The Ringmaster, Brian Scott, did an amazing job of singing the National Anthem.  Great way to start off the show!  The show really was fully charged!  There was everything from aerialists, to strong men, to a high wire act, to animals, to clowns.  Vas and Stas are hilarious!  They kept us laughing any time they showed up on the floor.  Vas is the Ringmasters assistant and Stas is Vas's assistant.  Taba is the animal trainer and wow!  He did a fabulous job.  The whips that he holds never touched the animals, that I could see.  The tigers looked like they were having a good time, like larger versions of my cat when he is playing.  The horses were beautiful, but then I have a soft spot for horses.  The elephants are giant beauties.  My oldests favorite performance was the Fernandez Brothers.  They used "wheels of steel" in their performance.  It was pretty cool!  My youngest hid her face and watched the Danguir Troupe's high wire act through her fingers.  The Negrey Troupe does acrobatics and they all seem to be world class gymnasts.  They were SO fast!  I couldn't capture a picture of them as they were literally a blur on my camera.  It made for a really late night on a school night, but we all had an amazing time!  The two youngest kids were fading fast after the animal acts in the second half.  It was just getting too late for them and they all slept the whole way home.  They are all ready to go and see it again.