Those Amazing Animals

This was a pretty fun weekend for the Martinez clan.  We took Connor and Josephine to the circus on Saturday and Sunday the neighbor’s cat came to play with the kids…again.  Next weekend is the Broadway across America show, “The Lion King” which Connor is pretty excited about.

First the circus.  My friend Pete told me that you could actually ride elephants at the Shrine circus as opposed to the Barnum and Bailey circus (which we also attended last summer).  So when I got the notice that the shrine circus was coming (and to the Cedar Park center no less), it was a no brainer.  We built it up for Connor and Josephine and by the time we were having breakfast the morning of, both were champing at the bit.  When we got inside, we asked the kids if they wanted to ride the camel or the elephant.  Both said “ELEPHANT” although Connor wanted to pet a camel.  They smiled, waived and enjoyed the ride.  Then Josie wanted to ride the Camel, but Connor thought he’d “trade” his camel ride for a snake hold.  Yes there was a 10 foot python, okay, maybe six, but still my little man is four, so, well it was a big assed snake.

There was Connor who has been watching at least four episodes of crocodile hunter a week for the last two months.  Many of them involve snakes and he’s already fearless.  So while other kids were squeamishly avoiding the snake and cowering, Connor could not wait to pet and hold the snake.  So the lady put it around his neck and he was in heaven.  Now if you’ve ever seen a snake episode of Crocodile hunter and, while I’m here…  How the hell did Steve Irwin last as long as he did?  I remember casually seeing a scene here and there a couple of decades ago and when I heard he’d been killed by a sting ray I figured it was pure dumb luck.  But this guy CONSTANTLY put himself in situations where he should have been medevac-ed to a major trauma center.  When I grew up (still with me?) it was Marlon Perkins on the Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom.  He’d be in a jeep 1000 yards away with a microphone while his sidekick Jim was nearly getting decapitated by a lion.  I think Steve Irwin decided… “Who needs Jim?” Anyway, so when Irwin grabs a snake (usually an extremely poisonous death on contact type) he grabs it by the tail.  So when Connor was having the snake pulled away from him he reached for the tail.  The handler very politely said not to do that, but I knew what it was all about…and they were lucky because I’d bet 10 bucks that as soon as he grabbed the tail he was going to look at me and break into an Australian accent.  Yep Connor does accents.

So we make our way to our seats and then the candy stand comes to life.  Remember in Beauty and the Beast when Belle’s Dad freaks out a little when all the clocks, and furniture, and tea set, etc. all start talking to him?  Okay, so I get it, I’m in marketing and I am not shocked, but it doesn’t make me less annoyed.  Every 10 seconds a new vendor comes up the steps with another sugared product, worthless light up product, or a stuffed version of whatever act is going on.  Again, I get the genius of pushing this in the face of children at the perfect time at a time when parents can go to prison for telling a child to “shut up” too loudly.  But it was over the top.  It was so over the top they were blocking views of the acts.  It was so over the top, there was a point in the show when the emcee told everyone to hold their light up products in the darkened arena to show where the special people where and then even cautioned parents that these worthless (20 bucks of worthless) toys were made especially for this show and could not be purchased EVER again in stores or on the internet.  Really?  I laughed when some very sweet grandparents bought their little, I don’t know four, five, maybe three year-old a light-up product and within two minutes he’d dropped it on the floor breaking it.  Of course all sales are final.  If I ever started to sell drugs and needed to launder the money, I’m buying a circus.  Seriously how does a normal family go to the circus and not blow the rent and grocery money for the month?  I mean we were in for 75 bucks before we got to our seats.

The volume in the arena was also unbelievably high.  I’m guessing to drown out all the pan handlers on every aisle, but also I guess suppress the crying, and screaming.  In any case, it was a bit much for Connor so he said he wanted a break from the noise.  We went down and grabbed some lunch.  Continuing with the expense theme, some guy noticed the hot dog, chicken strips, hamburger, and chicken sandwich we were all sharing and said, “That looks like a healthy hundred dollar meal.”  I think I even saw a brinks truck pulling up at intermission.  The second act came around and it was more animals and fun and we really did enjoy the show over the heads of the pusher guys who were I’m sure terribly missed from the street corners from which they were plucked.  The semi-mistake I made was getting some peanut m&ms for dessert.  Josie turned into a crack head and didn’t even want to watch the show, she just wanted the candy.  The best part was as soon as they came down from the sugar rush and we got home.  Bang, they were pooped and in bed for naps.

The next day our neighbor’s cat came by.  This cat has been coming by when the kids are outside and they chase him around and he runs around with them.  The cutest thing happened Sunday though.  I’m not sure how it happened, but we ended up with an entire tube of yarn outside.  Anyway, as is always the case with yarn, there is a string about 10-15 feet long that’d been pulled out of the main tube.  Connor started running with it and the cat was chasing Connor and the yarn.  He’d pounce on the end and Connor would keep running making the string even longer.  Then Josie got in the act.  They were running, falling, laughing, yelling for the cat to get the other one, and it was hysterical.  Nita and I were doubling over with how funny this was.  It was a really good time.  We’ve all seen cats and string, but I really wish I would have taped it, this was one of those funniest home video winners I think.  The cat was tired, the kids were filthy, and I hadn’t laughed that hard in a while.  Now I’m off to sell some blood to pay for the circus.