What a great Moose weekend it was!

Well, I am still recovering since I was up very early three mornings in a row. It was my responsibility to bring bagels and cream cheese to the lodge so that everyone could have breakfast at 8:00 AM. Others brought muffins and fruit. We also had orange juice and the most important drink COFFEE!!! For lunch we had "make your own" sandwich, salad, chips and dessert. I couldn't eat so I walked around mingling, renewing friendships and confirming that everyone was having a good time.

Approximately 60 women attended the session. The Moose International organization just completed our International convention in Orlando and many changes were announced. Not all were well received so it was up to our California/Nevada officers to present the changes and explain why they were necessary. It took all Saturday morning, but once everyone understood the reasoning behind the changes and the idea of hoping to appeal to younger women so that we can keep increasing our membership, most agreed that the changes are necessary. Once the work part was out of the way, we were ready to party and just have fun. I think at least 15 prizes were given out, some were door prizes but others were won for winning games or for catching the officers if they made an error when providing information. All was done in good humor with everyone joining in the laughter.

Saturday night, we had our Hawaiian chicken and rice dinner which was very successful then we had some Hawaiian hula competition. One of our members was raised in Hawaii and knew how to hula. She agreed to perform then offered to teach it to the others. Talk about good sports!!! The 6 senior Officers in attendance performed their version in grass skirts. Professional dancers have nothing to fear from this competition. After they did their dance, everyone was invited to come up and give it a try and I think about 20 gave it a try. Very entertaining and very funny. There was a lot of good teasing and laughter. The members who prefered Country Western line dancing also had the opportunity to do their thing and we even had some great karioke. Everyone had a great time, no one wanted to leave, but we all knew that we had to be up bright and early Sunday morning, so we grugingly broke the party up near 11:00.

Sunday morning we finished up our Moose business then played games, gave out more prizes (about 30 in all for the weekend plus everyone got to take home a goody bag) and the meeting closed at 10:30. Some will see each other at convention in September but others like me (I used my vacation for Iowa) won't have to chance to meet until next February, so goodbyes were tough with many tears and hugs.

I love this organization and the women (and men) who belong. We are dedicated to the "Service to Children" concept which is what the Loyal order of Moose and Women of the Moose are all about. Our officers are super loving women who lead by example and having this opportunity to share the fun with them in an informal setting really keeps everyone reminded why we all volunteer so hard to keep our Moose family centers alive and thriving.