Murder Mystery 2012-OLD

Last weekend, my friend, Lindsey and I, held our annual Murder Mystery Party.  We had three separate games going, which meant 24 guests, a great turnout!  You'll notice in the picture gallery below, there was quite a range of costumes. Be assured, we were kept in stitches most of the night.  If you want to learn how to host a Murder Mystery party, see my sister, Nanette's Polite Society Magazine feature with all the steps you need to know.

 Can you figure out the themes for the three games based on the costumes?  If not, well I'll help you out a little:

1. Murder on Misty Island-  High School Class Reunion with 11 different students and one old housemother trying to figure out the murderer of their classmate, Stephanie.

2. Grapes of Frath- A 1920's themed mystery set on a beautiful yacht, the Gilded Vessel, while trying to find the murderer of their host, Archibald Frath, the famous, internationally-known champagne and wine distributor.

3. The Good, the Bad & the Guilty- Everyone is a guest of Judge Waylon Payne in for the public hanging of the Malevolent Seven in the town of Roadkill in 1822.  Judge Waylon Payne who has mysteriously been killed the morning of the hanging and it's up to them to find the killer before they are all hanged.

For the theme of the night, we decided to decorate the food and beverage table around the country western theme.  The menu included the following:

Chow Hall:
Chuckwagon Sliders (Small BBQ Chicken Sandwiches)
Howdy Partner Chili
BBQ Baked Beans
Cornbread Biscuits
Deviled Eggs
Wild West Buffalo Wings
Cowboy Caviar & Chips (homemade salsa)
Howdy Partner Veggies
Rocky Top Guacamole
Hoedown Bean Dip (7-layer bean dip)
Frontier Fruit
Rocky Road Trail Mix
Wagon Wheels (tortilla rolls)
Helena's Apple Slices & Chocolate Dip

Watering Hole
Cowgirl Lemonade
Giddy Up Guzzlers (Bottled Water)
Hot Wass-Ale Apple Cider

Sweet Saloon
Rodeo Rootbeer Floats
Sherriff's S’mores on a Stick
Dirt Brownies
Muddy Buddies
Pioneer Pretzel (pretzel rods dipped in chocolate)
Cherry Chocolate Cowpies (chocolate cherry cheesecake)

Keukenhof-Holland's Festival of Tulips

Great job, Xanthe on choosing such a great cover picture.

Visiting the Keukenhof again was super fun.  This time I didn't feel like I needed to see everything.  And we were there with friends so it was fun all around.  I think this time around more flowers were in bloom as well, even though it was colder.  There are a TON of pictures.  Lots of flower pictures.  I weeded a lot out but there were just some I couldn't. I've been checking my blog stats and I've noticed I have a lot of people looking at my blog for travel purposes.  My post on Neuschwanstein  few years ago is my most popular post. :)  So I figured for them (and me) I wanted to keep a lot of flower pictures so people can see how amazing it is.

Most of these pictures are taken by Brittany. She did a much better job than I did last year.  But the girls took a lot too.  I'll try to label the ones they took.

Xoe's fingers

Xanthe's picture of the map.  Pretty big, huh?

Even though there are a lot of flower pictures, don't check out.  Keep reading. There are a lot of "people pictures" too.

Xanthe being lazy. :)

Rolling...

...and rolling...

... and meltdown.  Not sure what happened. He doesn't usually meltdown like this which is why I posted this picture. It's kind of funny when he does. 

Flower Delivery Cars

This is what the flower beds looked like all over the park

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Playin on the stepping stones.  I wouldn't go across. They made me very nervous. If you haven't read my article in Polite Society Magazine about these stepping stones, go here.

They were trying to make me nervous on purpose.  Sheesh.  Any wrong step and they could just fall off.

We ran into so many people while there.  It was our Spring Break so it made sense.  Here the girls are recognizing their Science Teacher, Mrs. Senior.

Illi, Xanthe, Xoe & Mrs. Senior

Xanthe's flower picture- turned out great didn't it?

Another one of Xanthe's flower pictures

Another one of Xanthe's flower pictures

Another one of Xanthe's pictures

These were soooooo good!

Climbing up the windmill

This is the view of the fields from the upper deck of the windmill

One of the look-out points for the maze.  You can see the fields in the background.

This is Illi, our friend Portia's daughter.

Waiting in line for the zipline.

Warning sign to visit the animals.

The kids spent a lot of time in the animal pen.  They fed them, pet them, chased them, were chased BY the animals. It was really fun to watch.  And my 12 year olds were actually afraid of some of the animals. Illi wasn't afraid of any of them. She's like the animal whisperer.

The girls thought these were funny because they were twin sheep.

They spent a lot of time with this calf.  Xanthe was actually afraid of it.

The Orchid Arboretum

Heading home!!!  I wanted these slippers since the last time we came.  Brian surprised me and bought me a pair. :)  They're actually the most comfortable pair of slippers I've ever worn.