Murder Mystery Party, Year 3: Hawaii

For obvious reasons, we did not party in the summer of 2020, but thankfully did not have to skip our on our mystery party.  I had planned a 100 year house party, that would have taken the place of our mystery party anyhow.  So, really, this would have been year three even without corona!

The day before, Sarah helped me fill the swimming pools that my mom had collected earlier in the year with sand.  We used her truck to pick it up, and ended up with half of a cubic yard, which weighs over 1000lbs!

This year's murder happened on an estate in Hawaii.  Present at the party: an island chief of Polynesian descent (Jared, in a Maui costume!), a swimsuit model all the way from New York (Jessica), a local luau dancer (Me), an unlucky tourist (Billy), former surfer and coworker of the deceased (Matt) and millionaire's wife, possibly lover (Deb, who in reality was 8 months pregnant!), stumbling onto the scene of the crime was a golfer (Juliana.)

Emily wanted to make some fancy tags for all the guest cups, and Grace hand colored flowers to label all the plates.  It all came out so cute!  All of the pictures are courtesy of Deb's phone, since I hadn't had a chance to take pictures of anything!

Just the ladies in front of the tiki bar that Billy helped me build.  

During our warm spell in March or April? Emily came with me and we found a metal workbench, some boards for a bunk bed and a mirror on the side of the road.  Billy helped me put the stand and boards together, then we found a board in the shed to use as the roof.  The thatched top is actually cuttings from our ornamental grass in the front flowerbeds. It sat outside for months between making it and the party, but it looked so cute!

I painted the mirror with chalk paint, then used marker pens to make up the drink menu.  Grace and Juliet were asking me for the juices off of the menu for the entire week leading up to the party.

Grace and Emily were big helpers setting up the party, because poor Billy had a sleepless night and still had to go into work Friday morning.  So, he was trying to catch a nap before the party.  I was trying to put the finishing touches on the decor and finishes cooking the food, so it was a hectic afternoon.

The bone in pork loin (that I ended up at 3 different stores to track down) took so long to cook, but came out really really tasty!  We also had caramelized onions, pineapple & avocado salad, and bananas and berries in cream.  

Jessica and Deb took care of the kids food with pizza, pasta and so much fruit!!

The pig is kind of lost in the circle, so here it is before the party.  We had toyed with the idea of a real pig, but they only sell sucklings, and I didn't like that.  A search on the internet showed that I could also buy a dissectible pig, but same issue.  I found a life like looking magician's prop, but when I signed up for the site and went to ship it, it would have run over $30, just for a prop.  So, thrift shop for the win, sadly the only one they had was a tiny little Hamm, from Toy Story. lol 

He got to hang with us the entire time, since it was warm enough not to need the fire.

At one point, there was a cat that the kids found under our side deck, and thought that the correct course of action was to bring it inside the house.  Like I wouldn't notice when everyone is spending all evening in the girls room instead of on their computers? Or they all 'suddenly' want to sleep in the same room?  The cat was very sweet, but the kids would not leave it alone.  When our neighbors came home, they said that it was a stray, but that they were considering adopting it.  I was relieved to be rid of it, and it had only been a few hours!

It was a great time, our previous murderer was the prime suspect most of the evening.  But the cases against each suspect were fairly strong! 

It turns out that the murder was:

*Matt, as Bo-Jo*

which lead to a very entertaining conclusion for our evening. ; )  

I am so so thankful for this fun group of people, who show up in full costume and pour their energy into their characters! <3

Unsurprisingly, I'm already excited about next summer's murder!

later days

*the text here is white if you'd like to see who the guilty party turned out to be!

Our fun from last year can be found here.

The first year can be found here.

21st May, 69th Day of Quarantine, 42nd Day of School at Home

The high today was a sunny and pleasant 73F!

I spent a good chunk of time on the phone with my bank and Orkin, trying to resolve a double charge. The manager was supposed to call me back, but never did.

Schooling on Thursdays is pretty good, as the workload gets progressively lighter during the week, and my kids are pretty good at front-loading their week.

I ran to pick up some goodies from Deb's porch for our MOPS MAD night, and left a box for Hanna, since we failed to meet up at the park.

I spent some more hours on my teaching certification.  150 hours is so daunting, so I'm trying to push through while I have the motivation. = )  I like the new program well enough, but I am still disappointed that they removed all the 'free' courses from the Gateway platform.  In the new platform though, you can watch the videos at double speed which is way cool!

We also got in the field guide we were instructed to order for school in the fall, and it is so cool!  Emily, William and I spent some time outside trying to identify the plants in our yard.  We didn't find a perfect match for the tiny white flowers, so I'm not sure what they are, even now. We identified the bird that has nested on the backside of our carport: a house finch!

Sarah came by and mowed my lawn for me (score!) so now I don't have to worry about that for another week. = )  I also sent a bag of school supplies that is destined for the school to live in her basement until next October when school is well underway it will be welcomed instead of a burden.

Grace must have been MIA yesterday when we were building the trolley, because she didn't even know about it.  She had a good time pretending to be a doctor and passing out medicine (milk duds) and giving shots for sore throats...  At least I know these will get use even if we discontinue homeschooling!

We all contributed some names to a 'drawing' for what we should call our book trolleys.  Emily and Juliet submitted the winning names: "Candyland" and "Homework Trolley."  I wanted Holly & Molly, the book Trolleys. But I didn't win. = (

It was warm enough that the kids set up the slip and slide for some outdoor water fun!

For dinner we had PF Changs freezer sweet and sour chicken for the first time.  With the exception of the bag recommending only cooking one bag at a time (so i had to lengthen the cook times) I was very impressed and will buy it again!

Thursday night is the weekly meeting with the other parents in Alice's class.  Since MAD was right after, I tried setting up the webcam on my upstairs computer so that my phone wouldn't die during the meeting.  That computer was too old, so Billy moved up my CPU to use with the upstairs auxilaries.  I had to bring up speakers, then headphones since the speakers weren't loud enough.  Sadly, the wifi is just too slow, and I ended up at the parent meeting on my phone anyhow.

Thankfully, it was a short meeting, so I was able to return everything to it's proper place and re set my downstairs station before the MOPS event.

We played a little bit of a game, but mostly just enjoyed chatting.  It's so nice to not be in this alone!

Because of the double meeting, it was a quick group bedtime for my crew, and a slightly late bedtime for me.

Tomorrow William has a local doctor's appointment, and they will be coming out to the car??  So many new adventures!

later days

Crafting

During their 'free time' on the snow days I spent my time crafting!

This bag I made earlier, but I don't think I've yet posted it.  Deb is constantly looking for her phone and it makes me feel stressed on her behalf. So, I made her a little crossbody back that she can slip her phone and keys into, so they don't go missing. = )

Emily was invited to a party, but with less than a week to plan, and four snow days, I had more time to make something and less opportunity to buy, so she helped me choose the fabric for a zipper bag for her friend Allison.

 I also had time to finish up end of year teacher bags.  I'm hoping to make them 'part of' the gift, but we'll see how our end of year schedule pans out.  Grace and Juliet have had quite a bit of teacher turn over this year, so I made less personalized gifts for their teachers. But I don't feel too guilty, since I waited until kindergarten for Alice to present her teacher with an embroidered version of her hand written message.

A little Supernatural while I work.

Finished my pile!

One of the keyring Chapstick holders was for an old friend whose old one finally gave out. = ) So, I dropped it in the mail for her.

I took the time to fancy up my mouthwash dispenser.  I need a tray and cup to make it look complete though.  So, I'm on the hunt at thrift stores.

It felt nice to craft, especially since most of my free time in January was dedicated to sorting/cleaning/pruning. = )

later days

Murder Mystery Party

This past week, I dedicated my time to preparing for our party on Friday. Using all of the literature provided by A Cajun Killing, I shopped for food (at a lot of stores) and ended up sending Billy out for a few last minute items.

The invitations provided give a description of what each character would have worn. For this game there was a Ship Captain, Weeping Widow, Gambling Man, Scarlett Woman, Piano Man and a Stowaway.

I set the table with the antique China I inherited, which just happened to be time period appropriate* and finished making all but the chicken. I also made some cloth napkins, since ours are practical vs. pretty.

Full disclosure, the backpacks stayed put, but I did try to make it look a little less colorful. = )

When Jessica, Jared and their crew arrived, she helped me peel two heads of garlic, and luckily laughed when I realized I only needed two cloves. oops. She also helped measure the other spices and plucked off thyme leaves.

When Deb, Matt and their little ones got here, we sent the 12 kids out on the back patio to eat. They had quite a spread themselves. Jessica brought popcorn and watermelon, Deb brought mac and cheese with veggies, and Emily had laid out platters of crackers, meat and cheese! The men folk sat outside, while we finished up. Once the kids had eaten, we were ready to play.

The game comes with cassette tapes, so I had to buy a Walkman**, since I haven't had a cassette player since before Emily was born.

The game allowed for lots of breaks (and interruptions) but was so easy and fun to play! We were able to eat all four courses while playing, since it is mostly conversation.

We had varying options on who the murder was, and if memory serves Jared was the only one who figured it out.

All of the players had a good reason for wanting to kill off Mr. Thorpe IV, but only one did. Since I'm sending it along to Caroline, I'm not going to post spoilers, but it was good. = )

A close up of the gambler's bling:

I have two more in the pile, and one of them calls for a fourth couple. It's set in 90's Hawaii, which is totally fun. I'm certainly looking forward to solving the next mystery.

later days

*1905

**somehow I managed a picture of the cassette player, but not the 12 children who were incredibly well behaved the entire evening. They were seriously so good.