CIRCUS

The circus was in town, and Grandpa Staley was in town, the very SAME weekend. How could we resist…

Lissa and Kivrin at the circus, posing before we walked down to the pre-show activities. We attended the Saturday afternoon show at the Kansas Expocenter.

Kivrin and Dan watching the pre-circus jump rope athletics.

Kivrin watched everything with interest, sometimes laughing and smiling but sometimes just looking surprised!

Kivrin got excited with the music and the crowd clapping. She waved her cloth around in the air! The lighting at the circus is designed to draw your attention to the action, and it really helped her focus on the acts in the ring. After enjoying the clown antics, a woman climbing a rope, and a funny guy on a bicycle, Kivrin decided to nurse and take her afternoon nap during the trained dogs, the elephants, the intermission and the tiger acts. She woke up right after the animals were gone, and excitedly watched the rest of the show. She especially loved the gymastics and the opening parade and the music.

Kivrin slept through these elephants.

(not really) funny story about trying to breast feed during the circus — Kivrin is still using the silicon shield to nurse, so I got it out and we started nursing, and then a loud noise distracted her and she popped off and turned her head, sending the shield flying…somewhere…in the dark…at the Expocenter. I usually have an extra shield in my purse, but I left my purse at home so that I wouldn’t have to keep track of it at the circus. Losing the shield momentarily happens regularly at home at night, and I quickly ran my hand across Kivrin, my lap, and everywhere else I could reach. Kivrin wanted to keep nursing but without the shield she can’t, so she started to fuss. Dan got his phone out and used the light from the screen to try to find the (small, clear, silicone) shield in the dark of the crowded seats. After a few minutes of frantic searching, I spotted it…down the seat in front of me, behind the super-cool tween girl with the multi-colored hair extensions (which Kivrin had tried to pull earlier in the afternoon). Not wanting to freak out the girl by accidentally grabbing her butt, I let her know my daughter had dropped something and then quickly reached down to retrieve it! We were back in business for nursing, Kivrin was asleep a few minutes later and our trip to the circus was saved!

Kivrin slept through these tigers.

Our family at the circus!

NOTE: those nachos in Dan’s hand are actually a present that he just bought for me. What a wonderful spouse!