Running off to Join the Circus

We just got back from our vacation in Maui (more about this in later blogs), but yesterday we went to the Ringling Bros. circus. While Daddy worried about how well I might like the scary clowns (Daddy doesn't like clowns) as well as all the lights and sounds. Well, I loved it. They really know how to get my attention right from the start. At the beginning of the circus, a bunch of clowns came out carrying enormous inflatable balls in bright colors. I recognized them immediately and yelled out "baah, baah" so that others would know that there were many balls flying around. The clowns danced to the hamster dance song. A little later, they threw the balls up into the audience and the people in the audience bounced the balls back and forth to one another and to the clowns. Next, came the big opening parade. There was lots of singing and a 20 piece orchestra playing. All the animals walked around the ring too. There were elephants---lots of elephants, I've never seen so many---there were camels and zebras and horses and dogs and goats too. This was great. I thought the singing and the animals and the many lights (I pointed out all of them in case Mommy and Daddy missed some) were great.

During the intermission, Daddy and I had a little adventure. The Oakland Arena comes equipped with many very nice steps. Naturally, I wanted to climb these. I eventually found a set of moving steps, called an escalator. This type of step is even better than the regular kind. We rode the escalator to the top of the arena. Then we discovered a little problem. There was no simple way to get back down. No escalator ran in the other direction and all the steps led out to the parking lot, which is not where we wanted to go. Eventually, Daddy found a working elevator (another great invention!) and we rode back down just in time for the start of the second half of the show. I started to have enough circus by this time though Daddy seemed to really enjoy a noisy motorcycle act. In this act, a bunch of guys on motorcycles ride inside something called the "sphere of death". They were spinning round and round and they kept putting more and more motorcycle guys in the sphere. They ended up fitting 6 motorcyclists inside driving wildly round. Daddy wanted them to keep putting in more guys until the inevitable carnage ensued though I was glad they stopped at 6.