After ten summers attending Circus Camp in her native Peru, Indiana—the winter home for Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus before it moved operations to Florida—Tina Miser’s dream was to run away with the Circus. But her practical parents wouldn’t allow it, so they made her a deal: go to college, and if you still want to join the circus, go right ahead. Four years and one college degree later, Tina got her wish and more. She met and fell in love with her husband Brian, then a working circus trapeze artist, and they’ve been living happily under the big top ever since.

In 1997, Brian created his own patented “cannon” and since 2002 they’ve been performing a human cannonball act for Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus that catapults Tina and another performer 90 feet across the length of the Circus tent, 35 ft. high at a speed of 0-60 mph in 2 seconds flat. But don’t let the two seconds fool you, there’s a lot of training and preparation that goes into each performance for this acrobat who sometimes will do up to 13 shows a week. “You have to be strong, because you need to make sure your body is tight enough to tolerate the force of the cannon,” she says. “You have to do warm ups and get your body prepped.” Then of course there’s the minor issue of making sure to hit the target air bags that are a mere 15’ x 28’, something for which she puts all her trust in Brian, the trigger man.

“It’s definitely always a rush,” Tina says about her day job. “I never go to work yawning!” This sustained enthusiasm says a lot for someone who travels with the circus 50 weeks out of the year. But in addition to her love for the circus, Tina admits one of the best benefits is spending time with her and Brian’s 5-year old daughter, Skyler. A circus baby, if you will, Skyler is currently homeschooled and loves to be with her parents and her extended circus family. Part of her education is learning about all the different cities she travels to, and Tina and Brian make time to educate her about all the different locations. For Tina, it’s a blessing in disguise. “It can be challenging at times of course,” Tina admits, “But the best part is that I get to spend a lot of time with Skyler everyday, except for the three hours that the show is going on.” During those three hours while her parents are performing, Skylar hangs out with 15 other children of circus performers at the Circus day care.

Asked how long she plans to keep her family in the Circus, Tina has no plans on leaving what she adamantly says “is truly the best show on earth.” And as for how to handle little Skyler’s possible desire to follow in mom and dad’s footsteps? “Anything she wants to do, we will support,” Tina says convincingly. Well if it’s true that kids only want what they can’t get, maybe Skyler will want an average career when she grows up.  Nah, we’re not betting on it.

SEE Tina fly through the Circus at the Staples Center in Downtown, Los Angeles this week!