Circus, here I come!

Last month I received the coolest birthday gift from my parents. They bought my sister Monique and me a trapeze lesson. At first I thought "where in the world do people do that?" I mean, besides the circus. Well, a few retired circus folk opened Emerald City Trapeze Arts in Seattle, where you can take trapeze and silks lessons. It was an amazing, scary, fun experience, and I hope to go back for my next lesson soon!

Climbing up the ladder to the platform was one of the scariest things I've ever done. Good thing we were harnessed in. This man helping me used to be in Cirque du Soleil, very cool!

Monique and I had to have some "ground training" about how to jump off the platform and swing on the trapeze.  

Here are some videos that my dad and my sister Shelby took while Monique and I were flying. This first one is my last practice swing before the catch, and it shows how nervous I was to climb up the ladder.



This is one of Monique's practice swings

After you do a few practice swings, if the teachers think you've done well enough, you can try a knee hang to a catch. This was by far the best part of the lesson. I could have done these all day long!