The Ringling Bros.and Barnum & Bailey Circus at the Patriot Center
was great fun. The show was entitled "Legends," and was filled with
legendary circus acts. No one was shot out of a cannon, but other than
that, they hit all the major circus milestones.
It's
been many years since I'd been to the Patriot Center. It's a great
venue -- large enough to have a real "big show" feel, but small enough
to feel like all the seats have a good view and you don't have to walk
miles to get to around.
I was pleased to
hear recently that Ringing Bros. will be retiring elephants from all of
their shows in 2016. (I live in a house divided in that regard -- my
husband disagrees and thinks that elephants are an important part of the
circus.) But even when the elephants are no longer in the show, there
are many other animal acts. We counted a full ten different species
that performed, including the traditional big cats (lions and tigers),
dogs (big and small), and horses. And there were some non-traditional
ones like goats and llamas... and one surprise that I won't ruin here.
The
human acts included motorcycles, acrobats, clowns, trapeze artists, and
a spectacular Ringmaster complete with flamboyant sparkling tail coat
and top hat (changed often, of course). Both my husband and I were very
pleased to see that they had a live band. Lots of electronics
included, but live trumpet, trombone, saxophone, keyboard, and drums, at
the least. The human acts are always my favorite, and I found myself
saying, along with my boys, things like "Wow!" and "No way!"
The show was LOUD. If you're sensitive to loud noises (or bright lights, for that matter), be prepared.
Our
boys are 8 and 10, and both thoroughly enjoyed the show. There was, as
my 10 year old put it after the show, "a little cheese" in some of the
acts, but overall they had a great time. At one point during the show
that same 10 year old said, "This might really be The Greatest Show on
Earth!" High praise, indeed.
Want to go? You can catch the show:
The Patriot Center April 8 – April 19, 2015
Show times:
· Wednesday, April 8 @ 7:00 pm
· Thursday, April 9 @ 7:00 pm
· Friday, April 10 @ 7:30 pm
· Saturday, April 11 @ 11:30 am, 3:30 pm, 7:30 pm
· Sunday, April 12 @ 1:00 pm, 5:00 pm
· Thursday, April 16 @ 7:00 pm
· Friday, April 17 @ 10:30 am, 7:30 pm
· Saturday, April 18 @ 11:30 am, 3:30 pm, 7:30 pm
· Sunday, April 19 @ 1:00 pm, 5:00 pm
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Savannah and I did a review today! I actually love all the "box of the month" clubs, and this one is from Foodstirs which offers cooking kits for your mini chef. 
We got the Mother's Day Box, which sells for $29.99 and includes some of the materials you'll need to make cranberry scones, a craft project, and a cardboard baking pan and directions to make a quiche. 
The flour, sugar, and dried cranberries we received were all organic. The salt and baking powder were not. In the picture are the color directions, which were fairly easy to follow, although they don't specifically tell you to add the milk and vanilla to the mixture- which my very literal first grader got mad at me about doing! 
We had to add our own milk, butter, and vanilla. Savannah opted to add some mini chocolate chips, which, who am I to argue? First we mixed everything together, then we put some of the flour down on the board to form a circle.
Here are our finished "scones". They were more like an extra soft cookie biscuit than what I consider a true scone, but they weren't horrible. They weren't necessarily great, but they weren't necessarily horrible, either. 
