The Circus Came to Town...

...and we should have skipped it! We were all excited to take the kids to the circus this past Wednesday. This would be the first time we had taken them to anything big. It was 1/2 price night, so we didn't feel like we had a lot to loose. On Wednesday I had the kids take a nap because it was going to be a late night. When they got up, I told them I had a surprise. I took them upstairs and showed them pictures of the circus. Their facial expressions did not change and then Carter said..."I don't want to go to the circus, I don't like the circus...let's just stay home and play." I started laughing so hard I nearly wet my pants. I explained that we were going to ride a train in Charlotte to get to the circus, but that didn't improve his outlook on things. Then Ella Claire chimed in and said if her "broder" didn't want to go, she didn't either. OH BOY! We picked Lance up from work, grabbed dinner and off to catch the train. What we didn't realize is that the train ride was going to be the highlight of the night. We now know that we should have spent the $6 for the train, rode uptown, got out...walk to a store, bought a Sprite, get back on the train and come home. Their night would have been complete. We get into the circus and Ella Claire starts crying because she wants to go down on the floor and be "in" the circus. I had promised Carter if he would go, we would buy circus popcorn and Sprite. We don't ever give them soda, so this was a treat for them. The souvenirs were $20, so needless to say, we did not buy one. Two drinks and one tub of popcorn cost us $13....the cheapest thing there. A bag of cotton candy was $13, a lemonade was $9, etc. The circus began and they were not impressed. Within 30 minutes, they had both asked to go home about 5 times each. We stayed until intermission, by then it was almost 9:30 and we knew we needed to get home. You can look at it this way....it was the worst $60 we've ever spent or the best. We had planned a trip to Disney World for the Fall, but now have changed our minds. It will wait another year or two...so it could also be the best $60 ever spent, by saving our money and sanity from Disney this year!