Circus Adventure

Ben has had a lot of work to do this week so this weekend Cooper and I were pretty much on our own schedule. I had tickets for the two of us to attend the circus Saturday at 4:30, so my whole plan for the day was to wear Cooper out in the morning so that he would nap and wake up in time to get to the circus. In the morning we walked to the playground and played for a while, then went to the Y to swim. Cooper ate lunch and thankfully took a nap. He woke up at the perfect time for us to get ready and drive to Boston. So far so good. Schedule was right on track, everything was working out perfectly.

We talked about seeing animals in Boston and Cooper said he didn't want to go the circus, he wanted the zoo. He was pretty adamant about NOT wanting to go to the circus. Somehow, in Boston, even with GPS I ended up taking a few wrong turns and ended up in East Boston rather than State Street at the parking garage.... 20 minutes later we were where we were supposed to park and on our way. As we walked around the corner to City Hall Plaza Cooper saw the circus tent and immediately started to shout that he did not want to go to the circus. I thought we were doomed, but I coaxed him in with the idea of finding a juice box. We got to our seats and all was well for a bit until the lights went down and the band started to play. A double whammy of darkness and loud noise. Cooper clapped his hands over his ears and kept them there for a while and curled up on my lap. For the whole first half of the show he kept saying he wanted to go and did not want to stay for the animals (the whole first half had acrobatic, clown, juggling, or music events). At intermission we took a break and I got him a 'magic spring' (a rainbow colored, star shaped slinky) and a juice box. He was happy to have the magic spring to play with and in the second half the animal acts came out with horses and some dogs. Cooper loved the animal acts, particularly the dogs, and the final trapeze act, The Flying Cortes. By the time the show was done he had warmed up to it, but was still ready to go. I did not get any pictures inside the tent due to no flash photography allowed, plus working with an unhappy toddler. On the way out we got a few pictures.

Overall, not a Fail, but not a huge success either. But, when I ask him about the circus now, he says he loved the dogs, so maybe to him it was really fun? I hope so!

Picture of the circus tent

Cooper telling me he just bumped his coconut (head) on the railing

Cooper wanted to take a picture too. He has better camera skills than me!