The Greatest Show

Whenever we take the kids to the playground, I find myself thinking, "is it me, or are these monkey bars way smaller then the ones that I played on growing up?"... and while I'm sure I know the answer (the monkey bars didn't change... I did) it's hard to believe that something that at one time seemed to tower over life itself is now just a bunch of curved metal bars planted yards apart and a few measly feet off the ground. They just seemed so HUGE back then.

Funny how time changes your perspective. Granted, some of it might have to do with the change of venue (Madison Square Garden versus Hampton Coliseum)... but just like the monkey bars, the circus just seemed so bigger-than-life when I was a kid. And when we went last weekend, I found myself looking around thinking... where's the rest? On the flip side, there were countless things (the acrobats, for instance) that I thought were way cooler than I remembered (I doubt that 20 years ago I could've appreciated the talent some of that stuff takes)... but overall, it was a reminder of the virtue of being a child: easily awestruck by the big, the bright, and the amazing.

Nonetheless we had a great time. Jasmine enjoyed it more than we thought she would at 12 months old, and the fact that Justin sat (ahem... relatively) still for almost 2 hours pretty much speaks for itself. In all, a great family outing. Glad to see that the circus is still affordable for the common folk... Which, by the way is reason #24 that I dread trying to take a family of 4 to a major league baseball game. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.