Come one, come all to the greatest show on earth!

I still remember the first time I went to the circus. I was 8 years old and my best friend's parents took us to Gainesville to see the show and have dinner. The circus was exciting and horrifying all in one. The noises, the lights, the ring side view of the giant animals. I remember being so overwhelmed that I had a headache and actually even started crying at one point. I was so glad when it was finally over so we could just have some peace and quiet in the restaurant. Since I had such fond childhood memories of the circus, I thought it would be a great idea to drag my kids along to experience the fun. The circus has been updated a bit. The original circus band music has been replaced with blaring hip hop and strobe lights, and it's now in the civic center, rather than a tent like it was when I was a kid. It takes away from the experience a bit in my opinion, but we still had fun. We had great seats - right in the 6th row - but it was too close for Wyatt, so we moved up to the top of the lower bowl so we could have a little more space. He ended up really liking it and took it all in, dancing to the music, while we ate our gut-busting hot dog and popcorn. Hadley even stayed awake through the entire thing, although who could sleep in all that racket. They had horses, tigers, zebras, elephants, clowns, a giant stunt wheel and motorcycle riders on tightropes, but the highlight of the day for Wyatt was probably the light saber Dayven bought him in the lobby.