Foster Fun House: The Circus Comes to Town!

The Foster Family headed to Stockton to see The Greatest Show on Earth... the Ringling Brothers Circus! Andrew did a great job sitting through the show, despite my rookie Mom mistake of buying Cotton Candy at the very beginning of the show. He watched the excitement with an almost pensive face, as he just seemed to take it all in. I had to restrain myself from constantly redirecting his attention to something else going on (as in, "Andrew, look what that tiger is doing! Andrew, look at the man riding a bicycle on the high wire!") and just let him watch whatever he darn well pleased. The circus can be over-stimulating enough without my incessant noise in his ear!

The hardest part of the show was actually waiting to get into the arena. It began raining as we walked up to the show, which we got to 2 hours early because they offered a chance to see the animals and then be on the floor during a "pre-show". Unfortunately, due to the rain, they cancelled the part to see the animals and said we'd have to wait 20 minutes for the doors to open for the pre-show. Having fully adapted to our California lifestyle, we were not at all prepared for rain (no jackets, no umbrella, no ponchos... my mother would have no sympathy), and we assumed it would stay light and be gone in a few minutes. So, we decided to wait in line, outside, in the rain. Dumb idea. It rained more in that 20 minutes than it has since April, and we got soaked. A very nice family in front of us shared their older son's sweatshirt with Andrew, so he at least stayed dry. Mike, on the other hand, had to wring his shirt out in the bathroom. But, by the time we got on to the floor for the pre-show, and Andrew saw his first clown (and I got my cotton candy), the rain was forgotten and we had a great time!