SAP Company Picnic - Harry Potter Extravaganza!

Lorne was invited to the US SAP Headquarters office company picnic and we hopped in the car and drove to Philly for it. It was totally worth it.The party was held outside and had a Harry Potter theme. It was amazing all that they had to offer. They had people dressed as the Harry Potter characters, they had a scavenger hunt for kids to win prizes, food galore, quidditch for older children to play, karaoke, huge chess game, magic show and the list went on...bounce castles, rides, pony rides, funnel cake...Jasmine was sorted when we arrived - she was sorted into Gryffindor! I had a great time singing and I became very popular. I even did a song with Jasmine although she chose a song she didn't know well so she only sung the chorus.We had a great time and I can't wait for next year's picnic.

Day 6 of Vacation and Celebrating our Anniversary

It was our last day of vacation and we were sad about it - but we had a great day planned. We went to the Castle in the Clouds (formerly called Lucknow) - the home of Thomas Plant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gustave_Plant) who made his fortune manufacturing shoes in the early 1900's.The home was built in 1914-1915 in the by millionaire shoe manufacturer Thomas Gustave Plant (1859-1941) for his second wife, Olive Cornelia Dewey. Its nickname "Lucknow" may have been a play on words on the city of Lucknow in India. The property was assembled from the private Ossippee Mountain Park, an observation area called the Crow's Nest, and a variety of other lodges and buildings. On this property he built the mansion, a stable/garage, gatehouses, a greenhouse, farm buildings, and a golf course. The property eventually extended to 6,300 acres.The house included many innovations which were rare at the time, including a circular shower, interlocking kitchen tiles, and a central vacuum system.After Plant lost his money in a series of bad investments, the house and its contents were auctioned off in 1941-1942 to pay his creditors who allowed him to stay in the mansion until his death, but the furnishings remained with the house. The property was purchased by Fred C. Tobey family and opened as a tourist attraction in 1956.
I found it fascinating and I love this kind of stuff. Before we got up to the house, there were a couple of stops. The first was at a very nice waterfall - though to be honest, as pretty as it was it is hard to impress me since I have been to Washington State and seen some amazing waterfalls.The second stop was a scenic view of Lake Winnipesaukee and the Ossippee Mountains. The pictures just do not do it justice.At the last stop, we boarded the trolley bus to take us up to the house for the tour. It was super cute that they shuttle people that way.The house has a breathtaking view that would be a dream to wake up and see everyday. I really liked it and it transported me back to life in the 1920s. The pictures do a fair job of showing what we saw but I highly recommend seeing it for yourselves if you ever get the chance.After a great day at Lucknow, we went home and got ready for dinner. We had reservations at the Woodshed - just my love and I to celebrate our anniversary. We chose this restaurant because it came highly recommended by Laura and her family and it is Laura's favorite restaurant. The food was delicious and we had a very nice time. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man who loves me enormously.

Day 5 of Vacation - Our Anniversary

We were supposed to celebrate our 8th year of marriage on our 5th day of vacation but we postponed our celebration until day 6 because Lorne had to work and couldn't get away. That's OK - we decided to go to the Science Center and have a look.
We left Ava at home because it was time for her to nap and we didn't want to wait for her to get up. She did look super cute though - check it out!Jan, Jasmine and I went and had a great time learning about all kinds of animals and playing with the interactive displays.We watched a presentation on the Great Horn Rimmed Owl - who was quite cute. The only sad thing was that we didn't get to see the bears because the electricity went out and they took them in since the electric fence they use to keep them in wasn't working. I did score three free passes to come back which is great because half of our experience was not as good considering there wasn't electricity.Later on we did some more swimming and had a yummy dinner and stayed in for the night.