The Circus in Chiquimula

On Saturday afternoon we drove into Chiquimula to attend the circus.  I first noticed it there a couple weeks ago and called another missionary couple that live there and asked them about going with us.  They have three small kids and I thought it would be fun for us to all go together.  We made plans to go this past Saturday and had a lot of fun together. 

We went to two circuses while living in Sayaxche but they were both small.  This was by far a nicer, more entertaining one.  They had clowns, acrobatics, dancers, and many animals.  There were two monkeys that ran around the bleachers.  They had a horse which of course was Cruz's favorite thing.  It had a monkey riding on his back which was very cute.  They had two tigers and two lions that performed.  They had an ostrich (weird, I know).  They had two very large snakes that they brought out and let the kids go up and pet.  I have a phobia of snakes so you can imagine how uncomfortable I was during that part, haha.   They had two people dressed as Mickey and Minnie who came out and let the kids shake their hands also.  There was a guy dressed as Spider Man who put on a fun show for the kids.  It was an enjoyable evening.

Here are a few photos from the night-

outside of the circus

David and Cruz buying our tickets.  It was 2x1 day.  You know that made David very happy.

After going in our first stop was at the concession stand.  David bought him and Cruz some hot dogs and I bought popcorn.  You can't go to the circus without snacks, right?

me and my boys at the circus

This circus actually had seats to sit in.  The other two we attended just had wooden bleachers.  This was a lot more comfortable!

We met the McIntyre's-  Daniel, Brandi, Levi, Mary Kathleen, and Uriah.  Cruz loves playing with their kids, and we enjoyed the adult fellowship.  They are from Alabama so it was like hanging out with home folks.

Cruz either sat in his seat or stood between us with his jaw dropped in awe the whole time.  He LOVED everything they did.  He was amazed at the clowns, the animals, and just everything about it.  He really had a great time and has talked about it constantly ever since.  I cannot wait to take him again someday.  He was very well behaved and not one time did we have to chase after him or correct him. That is rare these days.

At one point the clown got different people from the stands to help him with his act.  He would have them pretend to throw a rock and he would run and catch it in a bucket.  The last volunteer he grabbed was David whom he joked about being so tall and strong.  When David "threw" the rock it made a sound like glass breaking as if he had thrown it so hard and high that it broke the lights in the ceiling.  Everyone laughed hysterically (except David, haha).  It was fun to be a part of the show.

Right after it started Daniel sent texts to two other couples that live in Chiquimula.   They came and joined us also.  By the end it was thirteen of us.  We all sat together and had a fun time.  Afterwards we all went across the street to the McDonald's and had supper together.  The kids had a blast playing on the play land and us adults sat around for the longest time and talked and laughed.  We were able to talk parenting with Daniel and Brandi and laughed a lot about our experiences.  It is hard raising kids, but it is much harder when you are away from friends and family and others that can help you and advise you.  We are thankful for fellowship times like this and the encouragement it offers.  We hope to have more fun family outings with these new friends soon.