A key party ingredient

Last night, I went to the annual barbecue hosted by Bolder Options, an organization dear to my heart.  It's a local mentoring program for kids ages 10-14 with mandatory nutrition, goal-setting, and physical fitness (either running or biking) components.  I have been a mentor for two years and could never find praise high enough for the organization.  The staff is fantastic and supportive, and the program does wonderful work in which I believe deeply.

Anyway, my mentee and I ate sandwiches and corn on the cob and watermelon and popsicles, then checked out the post-dinner activities.  Here, I learned another life lesson from Bolder Options, this time about party entertainment.  Whenever I host my next outdoor party, I will absolutely be sure to have a full stock of...

...hula hoops!!

(Pause: My mother, also known as my most devoted reader, would accuse me of flagrant half-truths if I didn't note my past shady behavior regarding hula hoops.  One time when I was 9 or 10 and my brother was 7ish, I did what con artists big sisters do and offered him a steal of a deal: $5 to take ownership of one of our family's hula hoops.  Money was being exchanged when Mom broke up the transaction.  I told my mentee this story, and my mentee agreed that I was in the wrong.  Harrumph.)

But here, there was a big pile of hula hoops in the parking lot, and instead of trying to sell them, we joined other mentors and mentees in putting them to darn good use.  We must have hula hooped for a solid hour, after I got over the embarrassing hurdle of remembering how to hula hoop.  By the end, my mentee was working on managing three hula hoops at a time, we were downright tired and I felt like my stomach was bruised--but it was a blast.

Obviously, no pics of kids.  Instead I will subject you to my own feeble efforts.

Can one ever be in a bad mood and keep a straight face when hula hooping?  I need to add one to my fitness equipment, pronto.