Surprise!

We told the kids we had a big surprise for them. So on the first Fri of the school year, we left right after school for Bellevue to pick up Kipp. Then we grabbed some dinner at Baja Fresh. The kids are like, "Is this it?". NO. There's more. We're going to Everett. So they started guessing. Kyler thought ice cream. I asked him, does it make sense to drive an hour and a half just for ice cream? Hmm, maybe something else. They had no idea of course. We took them to see the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus (it's quite a mouthful now)! They have never heard of it, of course, but they did know what a circus was! They loved it! We were able to park just 2 blocks away, and had great seats. They have preshow for an hour before time for the kids, with elephants, girls twirling overhead, clowns, music, and more. It was great. Ilea was so excited, and Kyler was too. We were only 6 rows up on the end, and had a great view of everything. At the very end they shot tons of confetti, and we were right in the middle which made it great for the kids. Not everyone got to be in the confetti. My parents took me, as did Kipp's, and we both thought it was a little more Cirque de Soleil than we remembered. Wild costumes, people swinging from 50 yards of silk, funny clown skit that went through the whole show. They still had all the big stuff though. Elephants (did you see the one doing a HANDSTAND?), tigers, mini horses, big horses, tons of amazing acrobatics. The video below is of 7, yes 7! motorcycles in this steel ball cage. It was about 15 feet across. They started with 4 guys, then 5, then 7! They are totally insane! It was well worth going. We went on scout night, and had discounted tickets, so that helped too.