I started by going online and looking up companies that sold larger hoops because the kiddie kind at Target are way too small and light. We successfully confirmed that several varieties of hoops would be sent to us and waited very unpatiently for them to arrive. Finally one day the post man arrived with a paper wrapped package that strongly resembled a hoop. Tearing it open we found two hoops inside from SpiralHoopDance.com- Nice! One was black and metallic pink, the other green with purple stripes. I opted for the green while Amy loved the shiny pink tape on hers.

Now armed and ready to hoop we went online to find some tricks to learn. After much sleuthing around we found a few that we thought we could master fairly easily. Most of our free time was spent hooping in my driveway in unkind temperatures of over 90 degrees up until midnight. But that just didn’t matter. We were having a blast mastering our new skill and learning to control the hoop. At first it had full control of us. Our bodies were black and blue due to over hooping in the first few days. We looked like we’d been beat from every direction but we’d just drink a little more red wine and keep going. Soon, we were noticably good at a few tricks. There are a few good hoopers that go up to Last Concert so we decided to go up there and check out their moves now that we had a few of our own. Sure enough we wound up getting a few compliments while snagging a some ideas for some new tricks. Each week that we went back we were better and better until some of the resident hoopers, the chicks that own the hoop like no other, were commenting on how good we had gotten. They use larger hoops that move slower and give you more reaction time. We had learned on smaller hoops (while still much larger than the standard kiddie size) that allowed for faster moves and tighter tricks. Just talking about it makes me want to get up and play for a while…