Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day, we had made plans to go to Beaver Lake in Arkansas with some dear family friends, the Rudderow's! Daddy-O and Mr. Rudderow have been friends since they were teenagers and the families have always been close. We were super excited to get to visit with them again and spend the weekend on the lake! I was terrible and didn't take any pictures of the weekend, but Leslie did (so I copied them off of Facebook...Thanks Les)!

Here's a family tree so you will know people with names!

Ok, now that you are acquainted, I'll continue...
Friday, May 25 is when we left and headed that way, but that's a special day, Olevia's Birthday! So, we went to Tyler and had lunch at Chili's to celebrate! When we were finished Matt had just got off so we went our separate directions and Daddy-O, Ma'am, Mattie and I headed for Arkansas and Liv headed home for a weekend of celebrating with some of her girl friends. We arrived after about 7 hours on the road, with a few pit stops and it was gorgeous! We unloaded the car and enjoyed visiting and a yummy dinner! We played a little poker and just enjoyed the evening before hitting the hay.

The next day was when the boating and games began! We went out on the lake that afternoon and enjoyed a peaceful cove...we floated, jet skied, and just enjoyed the day!

Robin, Karah, Neal and I enjoying the lake.

Matt found a rope swing and had to try it out!

That evening we got back and were introduced to our games for the weekend:

Andy with our official "Chaffin/Rudderow Memorial Weekend Game Poster" explaining the rules.

Daddy-O had a question...and Ma'am was getting a check in from Liv.

Neal and Ashley plotting...

So, our first game was to launch ping pong balls from a sling shot on the 2nd story patio down to our partners on the ground who were to catch the balls in their buckets. Lots of laughs here!

Ashley launching her ping pong ball...

Neal catching the ball.

Dan catching the ball...at one point, he was going so fast backwards he fell off the ledge behind him and a couple seconds later, he came up and motioned that he was "safe"! So funny!

Then it was my turn...

and Matt catching it!

The next game, there were red solo cups set up with each of our pictures on them, 4 of each of us, and the objective was to bounce a ping pong ball off the floor and into the cup. You tried to get everyone not on your team out. (Our teams were the couples.) This lasted awhile, and was good for more laughs!

Neal and I were the last ones left with cups...he totally got me out too!

We also celebrated Miss Karah's 1st Birthday!

Leslie made her cake, a leaf with cake ball Lady Bugs for the big kids and a lady bug cake just for Karah! It was too cute!

Karah in her cute Lady Bug dress with her new car!

Isn't she precious? She loved her Caterpillar Tunnel!

The next day, we played more games and played in the lake more also! We had to build a kite and see which one flew the highest, we played a memory game with objects hidden under cups and did a citrus relay. (It involved two oranges, one on the floor and one in panty hose tied around your waste. You had to maneuver the one orange around a course using only the other orange.) There were several laughs at this game! We also had to throw playing cards at a sliced watermelon and make them stick...this was difficult, but it can be done!! We also had to decorate a cake to look like a person, real or fictional and Ma'am was the judge and had to guess who it was!

Matt, Ashley and Neal hard at work!

All of us with our cakes!

Ma'am guessed each and everyone of the correctly! Yay! Here they are from left to right:
Ashley - Mickey Mouse
Me - Minnie Mouse
Matt - Cookie Monster
Leslie - Harry Potter
Dan - Sponge Bob
Neal - Papa Smurf

The games were complete and the scores were in....the standings (until next time...hehe) are:

Neal and Ashley - 1st Place
Play Group for Life (Leslie, Dan, Matt and I) - 2nd Place

Halfway through the games, Matt decided that the "first born" (himself and Les) were going to form an alliance to try to win...we very quickly became "Team Play Group" because Matt and Leslie were in a play group together when they were wee little ones and once in a play group, always in a play group!

We had a blasty blast! It was so fun getting to visit and getting to know each person a little better! We had amazing meals, from breakfast to dinner, with desserts and snacks...it was top notch! The games and entertainment were unbeatable! Thank you so much Rudderow (and Schatz) Family for sharing your weekend with us, it is one that will always be remembered!