step right up. everyone. and their brother.

I'm so ready for warm weather. And really, I shouldn't be whining because we have many friends and family who live elsewhere and are dealing with weekly snowstorms and subzero weather.

Its just that we're running out of fun indoor stuff to do. And its probably my fault. But here is the thing. I hate crowds. I don't know when this happened, because I can remember being smashed in between hundreds of sweaty bodies at the 9:30 Club in my 20's and not minding a bit. I don't know if its a 'since I had kids' thing, or a 'since I'm getting old and crotchety thing' but I just can't stand to be indoors among huge crowds of people. We're lucky to live in an area so diverse with tons of cultural day trip excursions right around the Beltway. But living in such an area also comes with the price of having to share it with bazillions of other people, who all seem to have thought of the same idea on the same day at the same time you did. Which somehow doesn't seem like such a big deal in the warmer weather, when everyone can spread out. Plus there are a trillion more options in summer - pool, parks, beaches, heck, just taking a walk around the block. Things just don't get as crowded. We tried taking the kids to an indoor rec center pool three weekends ago and had to leave; there were no parking spaces left in the lot. And I've purposely been avoiding places like Chuck E Cheese and the mall this winter, where all those hundreds of little plague-infested fingers touch everything and two days later, someone at our house is puking.

I subscribe to a weekly email digest of kid-friendly activities. Every once in a while, something on the list sounds really fun and not to be missed. Last Friday, I read that Strathmore Hall in Montgomery County, Maryland (about 40 minutes from us) was having a free open house this Sunday. Ringling Brothers Circus would be there with shows and workshops all day. Free! (Hmmm, maybe that explains the crowd, now that I think about it more). We set off yesterday morning, arriving when it opened. Our GPS took us to the parking lot using some back roads and thank goodness for that, because the line of traffic coming in the other way went on forever. Once inside, we got in the long line to get a goody bag with some free circus garb. Except extremely rude people kept walking right up to the table, ignoring that there was a line all together.

We pushed our way through the crowd (no strollers allowed, so Logan was walking among the sea of legs), and decided to settle into some pretty sweet balcony seats for the circus show. We had to wait 30 minutes but the show was actually fun and well worth it. Every seat in the huge auditorium was full. When it ended, the kids were starving. Off we went to follow our noses to the popcorn stand. Except 100 people had already beat us there. And then we would have had to stand in another line of 200 people to buy some drinks. The line for lunch type food was as far as the eye could see. Heck, we could barely make our way thru the crowd to find the elevator. It was at this point we decided we were done. The kids were beyond hungry and even if we miraculously found some lunch there, any type of clown workshop or balloon animal would have been a two hour wait. It was a mob everywhere you turned! As we walked over the bridge, stomachs grumbling, back to the parking garage, the line of people waiting to get in went further than we could even see.

So smart were we, we headed to Chili's for a late lunch at 2 pm, only to have to wait there again for a table. Then our order took 45 minutes and I thought I was going to have to eat my own arm off. With full bellies and renewed spirits, we realized we weren't too far from the local Ikea, usually an hour from our house. Why not go since we were already so close? We circled their parking lot for 20 minutes looking for a spot. Dylan wanted to play in the kids area, he said. Great! Shopping with one less child! Except we got inside and there were about 20 people in line waiting for the kids play area already. Oh well. Off the four of us went to shop the packed and chaotic Ikea. Full of more rude people and unusually unhelplful employees. We're big fans of Ikea, but there was something sour in the employee coffee there yesterday. And they were sold out of what I wanted to buy, too.

5 pm. Back home. Our little quiet home-sweet-home. No crowds. Our own, clean bathroom. With no pee all over the seat! A kitchen full of food we don't have to wait for. Ahhhh, when did I get so cranky?

Here are the few photos we managed during the Circus Day. At least we got to see some crazy cool acrobatics while wearing these rubber clown noses. All was not lost.