Today I am starting a new category (See Title) of stories.. Every time I do something nice or attempt it anyway.. and the thing is somehow corrupted by a child, (tantrums, attitude, etc.) I will label it with this title and a number! Thanks for reading.. HERE WE GO!
The Circus...
Going to the circus was always a treasured time for me as a kid. Even though I may have only gone a handful of times, there was still something sweet in the memory of the wonder that is THE CIRCUS. The animals and their tricks... The acrobats and their heights... The music and lights pulling your attention all over the room... The clowns... All of it. Even though I didn't get to walk out with an arm full of branded goodies like other kids did, (NOW I KNOW WHY MOM, NOW I KNOW WHY!) I still walked out with the whole routine playing over and over again in my head ready to talk all about it to people who didn't get to go. Now that I'm an adult AND a mom.. I like to be able to let my kids have similar experiences when I can. Five years ago when it was my husband and I with our two kids who were five and two at the time, I saw on TV that the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus were going to be in a city near us in a couple weeks. If you've ever been to a circus, you know that this one is a pretty big one as in NOT some rinky-dink pop tent with barnyard animals. No, no.. Ringling Brothers meant the BIG TIME BIG TOP. Lots of animals, stunts, clowns and everything else that came with it! I talked to my husband about it and learned that he had NEVER BEEN TO A CIRCUS BEFORE! "Seriously? Like.. NEVER?" Is all I kept asking. I figured that even if it wasn't a grand event, that EVERY kid had seen one version of a circus or another in their youth... Everyone except my husband I learned. (Ok, I realize that not EVERYONE has gone... calm down.) I told him we should go. Of course he, being the homebody that he is, was reluctant at first because he associated the circus to being a thing for kids. Pony rides and a few juggling clowns... "Not this one, we're going!" And with a few clicks (and a hundred bucks...) the tickets were bought and then it was just waiting for the day to actually come.
Weeks went by and it was FINALLY the day to go! (Yes, I was a little excited... It's ok to have fun! ESPECIALLY when you PAY for it in advance...) So after some exhausting traffic (my husbands grunts and under the breath cursing included..) and some shitty parking (only six blocks away..) we were finally there. The girls, especially the older one, clutched their tickets beyond excited and anxious to see what was waiting for them on the other side of the building doors. We walked in and aside from the chaotic stampede, (of people rushing for overpriced snacks and merchandise) there was the start of their memory. Banners full of photos and colors filled the place with big bold letters that spelled RINGLING BROTHERS and BARNUM & BAILEY CIRCUS - THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH! "Woooooowww!!!" seeped out of the kids' lips as we started walking toward our section. To wrap this up, it actually went way better than expected. I thought for sure that the two year old would totally lose it and put us in a bad mood but even after she fussed for all of five minutes, she fell asleep and the older one (AND my husband) continued enjoying the show. We took pictures and talked about our favorite parts all the way home... I even got them a pennant flag with the name on it so they'd have a small token. It was a good time and I enjoyed that fact that I got to see ALL of them enjoy their very first circus...
Since then, we had gone to smaller versions (Shrine Circus) that pull into our city every year or two and though they enjoy the excitement, it's never as good as the BIG one.. But it's still fun to go.
FAST FORWARD TO... YESTERDAY.... The circus, the BIG ONE, comes back to town so what did I do? BOUGHT TICKETS!
I had asked a friend a month ago about going to the circus after my husband, who did enjoy the first one five years ago, decided he would sit this one out. He is a designated homebody unless we have to do something or I just REALLY want him to go. That was fine by me. He had already gone and I know NOW that once you see a really good one, chances are there will be more similarities than differences so I wasn't going to force him. I figured I could find a friend to go with and have just as much fun with them and my girls. Originally though, the friend was scheduled to work so I just didn't mention it to the kids. I figured that yes, they have already seen it and more importantly, there was no way in HELL that I was going to take three kids (10, 7 and 1) to a circus by my damn self.. NOPE! So I let it go. Then we had a dinner with friends on Saturday and I discovered that her schedule had changed and the circus had one last day it would be in town.. Sunday.. Yesterday.. I asked if she wanted to go and though a little hesitant at first, (only because she hadn't been to one since she was a kid and thought like my husband.. They would be small and kid like..) she decided she would go with us. That's a TRUE FRIEND there! Not only going to the circus she had no idea about but also going with a PACK of children! She was in for a treat alright! Of course I didn't say such unspeakable things out loud to her because I didn't want to jinx myself OR for her to change her mind....
I started gathering things around Sunday morning. The circus started at 3 in a city about 40 minutes away so I told her to meet us at my house by 1:30 and that would give us plenty of time to get there with traffic, fool around with finding parking and make it to our seats by the time it began. I had everything ready. My camera, lenses, battery, diapers, wipes, goldfish crackers, baby blanket, a sippy cup for water AND one for milk, toys, phone, purse, wallet and everything else. Stroller was already in the car, girls went to the bathroom and got shoes on while I changed a diaper and put her coat on. My friend got to the house and we were ready to roll. The first sign that I had failed... My daughter, the one year old, takes TWO naps every day. EVERY DAY. This is how it goes.. Usually, she'll wake up around 6am... stay awake until 8 or 9, sleep for an hour or a little over, get up and is good until about 1ish.. then she takes her second nap for about the same time if not a TOUCH longer.. Well... Sunday morning she decided to shake things up a bit by waking up at 4:30... No freaking way.. Mama bear BARELY does 6am, there was NO way I was staying awake at 4 freaking 30! I got her some warm milk, soft music and a fresh diaper... Back to sleep she eventually went, thankfully, and so did I.. She didn't wake up again until 7:30! So since it was already slightly skewed anyway, I decided I would alter her nap schedule SLIGHTLY to accommodate the day... That was my mistake. She woke up happy and full of life and I decided I would keep her up as LONG as possible, put her down for a nap around 11 or 12 and she would be waking up just as happy just in time for us to be on our way... HA! You know that phrase... "Wishful thinking." Exactly. I hate that phrase... In reality, she ended up turning moody and tired around 10:10 and so I threw in the towel and put her down. She only slept until 11:03...... I should've known then that I would be better off leaving her at home with daddy but no, no! I was going to be the super mom trooper and take ALL of my wonderful children to the freaking circus whether my internal voice was screaming "NooooooooO!!!!!" or not. (And trust me, she was screaming....)
We all get in the car and decide we're going to stop to get our own "normal priced" drinks at the store so we wouldn't have to pay $7/cup when we got there. We get them. As I'm pulling out of my parking space, I see a guy in a truck and his girlfriend standing outside with her arms full and she's trying to get in the truck too. He had locked her out and was laughing. She would walk away and he would honk and wave her back so she'd walk back just to realize he had locked the door again. It was actually funny to watch. As I pulled away I leaned out the window and yelled "kick his ass!" and they both started laughing along with my friend and two older kids in the backseat. It was going to be fun... We start down the road and just as I made it past all of the stores I shop at, I realize that I had packed up everything. Everything EXCEPT a memory card in my camera! DAMN IT! I pull into a grocery store in front of us, park, run in, see every other camera related item (batteries, USB's, charging cables) EXCEPT memory cards! I get back in the car and my friend tells me we can stop at a CVS we would pass on the way. Sweet. We got there, I bought my up-charged card and went back to the cars passenger seat after my friend graciously said she would drive to the event center. I love her. We get closer, see "Event Parking", pull in, pay and then join the slowly progressing circle to the next level of the parking garage. We park, get the stroller and everything else including the kids and we're on our way! We make it to the line where we have to show our tickets. Mine, conveniently on my phone, are just a few clicks away. Or so I thought. I try the whole way to the door to get into my account to see my tickets and it doesn't let me in! We had already been scanned by the old man with the metal detector and now we were those people holding up the line. We scoot over and finally a guy tells us that if we have the card we used to by the tickets, we can just go get physical ones from the box office.. On the OTHER side of the center. Grrr.... We head back outside, around the building to stand in an even longer line. This sucks.... My friend pulled out her phone for me to try it on there, amazingly, it worked! So we headed back to the original line not pushing any buttons to mess it up. We made it back to the scanner man and he says "I already scanned you, you're good". We joked with him about being scanned again and so he laughed and scanned my friend again after she told him she enjoyed the attention. :) We made it back to the ticket taker and she scanned our digital tickets. FINALLY!!!! We were IN! The place was made up of the same kinds of things as before.. Banners, toys, lights, noise and LOADS of people stampeding around for the last few minutes before the show... We found our section and headed to our seats. The show was about to begin.....
Our seats were in the upper area right on the edge of the balcony giving us a nice view of everything without it being right in our face. After a few minutes of struggling with the stroller to get it in the right position, we were comfortable and ready to watch. I grabbed my camera with its giant zoom lens and started clicking as the ring master and others came out of the lit archway beaming with noise and music. The girls and my friend were smiling, clapping, engulfed in the wonder while I struggled to get the baby out of the stroller she was already tired of and into my lap. My oldest daughter tells me she wants to join the circus when she grows up.. She says this after seeing 8 motorcycles fly around the metal cage.. Hmm.. Finally got the baby situated... Three minutes on my lap.. That's all she wanted. Then she went to my friend, then back, then back again. I tried to get all the pictures I could and before we knew it, the first half was over and it was intermission. Eventually, she made her way back into the stroller and was happy as long as she had goldfish going from her hand to her mouth every few minutes. The intermission ended and so did any glimpse of a happy baby.... The second half, what I saw of it anyway, wasn't as eventful as the first. I was able to take a few photos before surrendering my camera to my bag so I could walk with the unhappy child while trying anything to stop her from screaming and crying. The missed nap... I was paying for it. IN FULL. She was in a one year B**** Mode and she was letting me have it. Nothing helped her at that point. Not walking, not bouncing, not water or milk, not sitting, not her blanket, my keys or toys and not even goldfish. My friend could see that I was in no hurry to scoop up my camera and click so thankfully she did that for me while I tried to sooth the monster. I tried setting her in the stroller, laying it down, giving her the cup and blanket. NOPE! After two seconds of that she was screaming and crying SO HARD that she threw up the goldfish and milk she had previously downed. G R E A T ! I try to wipe as much of it up before I just surrender to the madness. I told my friend the girls would stay with her and they could all enjoy the rest of the show. Then I wheeled the stroller to the edge of the stairs, picked the entire thing up myself and hulked it and the banshee down to the main floor. We make it to the bathrooms, wipe her off, change her diaper... I then realize that I have no extra clothes for her. Another THING sitting on my table "all ready to go" and not actually where it needed to be... WONDERFUL! Her puke clothes are SOAKED and I wasn't about to put them back on. I stripped her down, wiped her fully and wrapped her in her coat and blanket and sat her back in the stroller. Surprisingly, she was fine... Go FIGURE! We walked around checking out all of the over priced (SERIOUSLY) toys and novelty things while we waited for the show to end. About 15 minutes after we left the bathroom, people started flooding out of the doorways and stairs like herded buffalo. I waited for my group and then we were headed out of the crazy mess. I asked my friend if she enjoyed it, aside from the beast anyway, and she laughed assuring me she had a good time. The girls each got a little light up toy featuring the circus name ($5 AFTER the circus.. just saying...) and we made our way back to the twisted garage. By that time I was starving and so looking forward to getting a big juicy burger from one of our new favorite places. Nothing could ruin that! Did I say I hate the phrase "wishful thinking"? Hmmm.....
After my friend graciously sat in the drivers seat yet again to get us the hell out of there, we only waited maybe ten minutes before we were able to squeeze our way into the convoy of leaving vehicles. We made it out of the garage (eventually) and headed towards FOOD! We pulled into a McDonalds drive thru to get the girls their food and were more than happy when we realized the plazas we needed were next to each other. We got their food and headed over to the place called Bad Daddy's burger bar.. Mmmm.... Mouth waters every time I say it... We pull in, park, start getting the dreaded stroller and everything together and we realize something seems a little off.. Yesterday was also Super Bowl Sunday... Every other restaurant in town was PACKED and here.. there were three cars in the parking lot... "Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!" my little voice screamed. "It's not fair!! Please be open! Please!!!!" and in the middle of that thought, a worker came out and pulled in their sidewalk sign. "Oh my God they ARE closing!" My friend asked if they were closed and she said they did in ten minutes. Desperate, I asked if we could put in a to go order... She told us we could come in and eat but no one comes in after they close. Let's see... Do I want to go in... HELL YES I WANT TO GO IN! So we did! The burger was delicious, what I remember of it anyway. It was a mix of stuffing my face, trying to quiet the baby, inhaling my drink... I even surprised the waitress when she came over to ask how everything was and my burger was simply.. GONE. I felt so much better.. Still annoyed at the unhappy soul in the stroller but I knew she was beyond exhausted from missing that damn nap. Conclusion to that by the way, is that neither her nor I are ready for her to give up the second nap of the day. NOT EVEN CLOSE! We got in the car, my friend drove us home, the baby screamed a horrible 70% of the way and eventually I called my husband saying "When we get home, I'm going to let you take her and give her a bath and get her ready for bed.. Mom's done.. I'm done.. I'm officially clocking out for the evening.. Thanks." He said ok with no hesitation whatsoever. He probably KNEW what my day was going to be like which is PROBABLY why he was more than happy to stay home.. I tried ok? I TRIED! By the time we got to my house, the girls got out and the baby just wouldn't stop crying. Until she say her dad which was when her whole demeanor changed as she yelled "Daddy!" and went to him. Why you little... I hugged my friend and thanked her again and then went inside the opposite way of the baby. I ended up going into the bathroom while she was in the bath and it was a completely different child. Smiling, laughing, splashing... Grrrr..... The big picture.. She went to a circus.. The BIGGER picture.. I was an idiot and now know that I will NEVER be taking a child under the age of THREE to the circus again. Ever! E V E R. She went to sleep as soon as we kissed her and laid her down in bed. Thank goodness for that! My mom night was officially OVER.
I collected myself enough to show my husband the pictures and tell him about the day, good and bad. Then I leaned on him and curled myself in a heating blanket. THIS was the most calming part of the whole day.. No noise... Nothing. It was wonderful... I ended up playing a few games and then falling asleep around 11:30. The day started back again at 6am this morning and she is currently taking her second nap... Never will I disturb that sanctioned schedule again... A good idea? Probably not. Good intention? Sure, but I've learned my lesson. Have a wonderful day guys! I'm enjoying NOT being at the circus today... :) -Super Mom
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