The greatest show on earth

Is also the longest show on earth. They are really proud of all the circus acts in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus.

I have very fond memories of going to the circus with my dad's parents, Jane and Harvey. We would go every summer I came to visit until I got too old to go. So I thought this year since Zach is four he would really enjoy it and it would be something we could do together.

Before the show they open up the area where the animals are held for the entire audience. You get to walk very close to all the animals. And I will say, these were some of the most beautiful animals I had ever seen. The horses had perfectly brushed coats, the elephants were clean and the tigers and lions were just spectacular.

 This was my favorite part for sure. We got this close to the elephants,

and the tigers.

And the five female lions. Zach started to get a tad scared at this point. Granted they were about 5 feet away from him but I told him to just stand there for one photo. And please, they were not coming for him. There were way chubbier kids there. He is turning into all knees and elbows like his dad.

We could then walk out onto the space where the actual show took place. They had some clowns doing acts, a bounce house and then they brought one of the elephants out.

On a side note: do clowns fascinate anyone else? I really, really want to know how this became their calling. How did they decide being a clown was for them? And what do they do when they are not with the circus? It took everything in me not to corner a clown and ask him.

We had great seats and just a little bit of popcorn to hold us over.

I thought the circus would be an hour or an hour and a half tops. We were going to have the popcorn as a snack and then go have lunch.

False. It started at 10 and didn't end until 1:30. So basically my child ate popcorn and a soft pretzel for lunch. Washed down with lemonade in a tiger cup.

But it really was a great show. I was also fascinated by the circle of death here, where one man was in the ring with one male lion, the five female lions and two tigers. I was petrified the entire time. I was planning in my head the conversations we would have to have when that man got attacked. You know we would be talking about it for months.

Zach said his favorite parts were the elephants, the motorcycle riders and the horses running. Some people brought their two year olds and those people are fools. Thankfully my two year old was at school yelling at someone else for the morning.