Weekend at the Nonni

went to the nonni's in cuneo this wknd. nonno beppe wanted nothing other than to take sophia to the circus that was down the street from their house. we're not that into the circus (maybe its like the zoo where animals have a less stressful and prolonged life as compared to the wild, but there is something so unnatural and cruel about carting animals around and making them work for their keep). so max and i thought we'd take advantage of sophia going out and go out to dinner by ourselves. only we found out that the nonno was going to go by himself-which made me nervous. if sophia gets scared or cries or anything he will immediately yank her out of the situation and take her home, instead of reassuring her and giving her a chance to adjust to the new experience. which bothers me a bit because instead of overcoming the fear, it just makes it that much worse. i know that he does it cuz he loves her, but it still drives me nuts. and also the nonno always wants pictures with sophia, but he never brings his camera. so max and i decided to go. so we went in and i realized why they dont have class reunions in italy, because we saw half of max's childhood schoolmates at the circus with thier kids! then we looked for a seat, it was friggin hot, they had the heaters going and it must have been 95 degrees under the dry heat. we settled down and then i realized i forgot my camera, so max went to go and get it. just as he left, BOOM, the lights went of and the loud music started and...of course sophia went hysterical. she screamed and cried. and jumped out of the nonno's lap. she hugged me so tight i couldnt breath. sophia was going nuts, the nonno was going nuts and my asthma started kicking in. i didnt even think about taking benys before we left. are elephants really that hairy? but sitting on top of the heaters with all the air blowing in our faces did not for fresh clean air make. the nonno was trying to yank sophia off me to take her outside, sophia was trying to cling to my neck and i was doing all i could to calm them both down and breath. so now i must say i REALLY REALLY HATE THE CIRCUS! it took quite a while, max came back within a few minutes and sophia and nonno started to calm down. in the end sophia quite enjoyed herself.

she wasnt too into the acrobats, which were the first few acts. the animals that came out really did nothing other than take to spins around the small circle, and soph enjoyed them.
she really really enjoyed the horses, the camels and the hippo and the fly trapeze people.
Grrrrrreat!
she clapped and roared for the tigers.

she was even fascinated with the 20 or so snakes they had. i was really amazed by the fact that it really was a traveling circus family. you could see how everyone was related, a bunch of sisters that did the dancing, the mom, dad, son(he was about 11) and daughter(she was about 6) that were clowns, did the snakes, helped with the clown act, etc etc .

the clown made sophia a balloon dog.

we saw them work the snack wagon in one outfit and then run back to do their next act in a totally different outfit. i wish i could have gotten pictures, but i didnt realize it til too late. they really worked their booties off!

max had a good time too.