Ladies and Gentlemen....it's Zing Zang Zoom Circus Time!

I think every child has dreams of the circus. If you are of a certain age, then the circus always seemed to be the most glorious, wonderful thing to come to down (aka the days before MTV and the Internet- GASP!). So to me it is SO amazing to still see the awesomeness of the circus translated to a new generation!

We were blessed to receive free passes for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Zing Zang Circus this past weekend in New Orleans, courtesy of Ashley and Deveney Communications (girl you SO SO SO rock!), as well a super souvenir package!

I had taken darling daughter to the Shrine Circus last fall, but the over abundance of clowns got her too freaked out and she just really didn't enjoy it much. Eight months is a huge difference- she could not WAIT to see the tigers and elephants! I'm not sure who was more excited- her or her daddy!

None of us had been to the New Orleans Arena (home of the NBA Hornets) before, so hubby and I were very interested in how it was set up! We won't discuss getting INTO the parking garage (let's just say the signage left something to be desired). It was a joy to be able to go INSIDE to the will call ticket window, as it was about 90 degrees outside! We were excited to see that we received Club Level tickets, which allowed us to forgo the literal mile long entry line outside! We had an elevator to take us upstairs and it brought us out 2 sections away from where we needed to be. So after bathroom and souvenir stop (gotta have a t-shirt and CIRCUS light up toy -yes the caption below should read "SCORE"- who invented those things? They have GOT to be making a fortune off that patent!) we checked out the club lounge (behind daughter in pix- club chairs, sofas, big screen tvs and their own bar- SWEET!

We had a usher lead us down to our seats (super cool), so we could check them out BEFORE hitting the floor, where the pre-show activities were starting. Ashley we love you-check out the 2nd row seats! Center ring was even with the blue bar, and the front ring was in front of us!

We got down to the floor and of course the First thing we see is the RBBB Orange County Chopper. So ya KNOW I had to take some cool pix, right? Well, after I got around the FOUR security guys guarding it-you would thought it was one of the tigers! This pix was totally live- no editing- I LOVE my SLR Camera for shots like these! And Yes, they RUN the bike at end of pre-show- it is 100% a TRUE chopper-VERY loud and very fast (120mph!)

They had clowns doing different balancing and humor acts on the floor, as well as walking around- we discovered that daughter STILL hates clowns, but at least she would peek out from around our legs and watch the clowns- that was an improvement! I was happy to see clowns of all races and genders! The circus has come a long way since my childhood! At least the big red shoes are still there!

They had circus show costumes for adults and kids to try on. Daughter refused-said they were too heavy and they were! One master of ceremonies coat easily weighed 20 pounds with all the beading on it! The aerial girls were also walking around and taking pix with the kids (which daughter also refused- I think the bright costumes made her think of the clowns!). BUT then they put on an up close show of the basic aerial moves. THAT got a huge WOW from the entire crowd!

And yes, she really was THAT close!

And then came Asia, the painting elephant.

I was lucky enough to be able to get daughter up to the ropes so she could see her up close- joy, per joy! Asia's favorite treat? A loaf of freshly made bread! Well, now we know females are females,

no matter what the species, huh? LOL

And all too soon it was time to head back to seats, getting a bag of cotton candy and a wizard hat for munchkin, cause what's a circus without cotton candy right?

The clowns pulled some men from the audience and included them in a game of musical chairs, ending up with the guys balancing each other, sans chairs!

Pretty impressive for regular guys huh?

Daughter actually was enraptured of the whole sequence and thought the clowns were funny- I think distance has it's virtues when it comes to her and clowns!

I wish I could TRULY show you HOW brilliantly vibrant the opening number was-tt was truly a feast for the eyes, everywhere you looked and the music sung by Clara Ruiz (Levitytia) was very toe tapping, sing along and inspiring all at once! Very reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil's Allegria!

It was really interesting to see one of the floating girls RIGHT in front is us- daughter was stunned as she watched her lift up in the air and then twirl at a very fast rate, with costume tails spinning! It was like seeing Tinkerbell come to life for her!