Did you know...

...that the circus now consists of horses, camels, dogs and two elephants? 

I mean, who knew?!  Well, our family does now!  Collin insisted he was going to see "two yions and a monknee" on Sunday when we took him to the circus in Little Rock, but that certainly did not happen.  However, we still managed to have a great time!  More on that in a moment.

Friday afternoon we had our usual Mommy/Collin date.  We went for smoothies, and as usual, Collin insisted that we sit in the kiddie booths.  I can totally get in one of these, but getting out quickly is a bit of an issue and I'm sure humorous for anyone sitting nearby!

Saturday we all got up and did some work in the yard.  Collin with his sidewalk chalk and bubble mower, Jarrod with his electric, hedge trimmer thingy and me with my bossy instructions.  Then we made our first family trip to a swimming pool.  Collin thought it was the neatest thing ever.  He kept saying, "Mommy, I 'cited!  Mommy, I have FUN!" 

Here's the thing...  I taught swim lessons for several years back in high school and college.  I very specifically remember thinking that one day I would get to do that with my own children, and (as I told Jarrod repeatedly last week) I have waited 12 years to do so!  I just knew I would have an opportunity to do some things with Collin on Saturday, but evidently his idea of "swimming" is standing on the edge of the pool in his lifejacket, throwing his water toys into the pool and making us play bird-dog.  Yeah.  He got in a few times and he kicked a little bit with me, but that was about it.  We'll keep trying.

Ok, so now for The Greatest Show on Earth!  Collin was only interested in the parts that included animals.  Every time they would do an act with just people, he would get in my face and say, "Where de amimals?!  I wanna see da amimals!"  The only non-animal act that he really enjoyed was when they took two guys on dirt-bikes and had them ride around inside a steel cage.  He ate that up.  Should I be worried about his potential to repeat that particular stunt?

It was because of this part of the show that he insisted on getting a motorcycle as a souvenir...



How cute is Amelia Jane?!

After the circus, Jarrod went to get fitted for a tux, and the Men's Wearhouse we went to happened to be in the same place as Toys-R-Us.  Collin has been talking about getting a bike and a "bike hat" for his birthday, so we took him in to try out a few of the little-kid trikes.  Good thing we went for a test-drive instead of just getting him one, because that poor child could not figure out how to put pedal and steer together to make GO!  We're still lacking a little coordination, so I think we're going to hold off on the bike and "bike hat".

That puts me back at square one in the birthday gift department.   Although, he did say he wanted one of these...



He's a dreamer, like his daddy!