As my
Toddler Approved blog has grown I have had the opportunity to meet some really nice people from around the globe.
This summer I attended a blogging conference called
BlogHer 2014 that was being held down in San Jose.
I stayed at the
Fairmont Hotel and had my own super cozy room. I felt totally spoiled and was bummed that I didn't get to spend nearly enough time in my hotel room because I had way too much fun out with friends!
The conference had different classes we could attend and then we also spent a lot of time hanging out and chatting.
On Thursday when we got there we had a big Kid Blogger Network meet up for dinner at Il Fornaio (photo from
Jamie). Not the cutest angle, but was nice to have the event documented.
On Friday I had fun going to classes and roaming around. I also went to a few events with some brands.
On both Friday and Saturday night they had parties. Friday night there were parties hosted by different brands that were held in different hotel suites. My favorite party (where we stayed for a long time) was the
Goldie Blox Party! We could play with the toys and get drinks/eat food. They had treats, so I was a fan!
Afterwards we went out to a nearby restaurant for dessert/food and stayed there until it closed. It was fun to just sit around chatting and learning from some of my super successful blogging friends.
During the day there was also a big Expo in the Convention Center where different brands had booths. We could chat with them about how they worked with bloggers and get free stuff. My favorites were Sonic and Baskin and Robbins... lots of free treats anytime you wanted them. Chuck E Cheese also was awesome and gave away big board games to everyone. We got Scrabble. The kids were stoked!
My friend Allie (who has a blog called
No Time for Flashcards) presented at the conference, so several of us went to her session. She gave so many great tips that have already been really useful to me! Now I just need more time in the day to use them more!
For dinner on Saturday night we checked out a fun new-to-me place in downtown San Jose called
San Pedro Square Market. There was so much good food!
Later on Saturday night McDonalds hosted a big closing party for the conference. There was a giant McDonalds truck serving happy meals all night long plus other food/drinks.
There was also a big dance party. I haven't gone to a dance party in FOREVER and had a blast. Run DMC performed and we hung out dancing and chatting at the party until the cops shut it down around 11pm or midnight.
The cops were trying to get us to stop chatting and leave... so
Jyl (who's photo this is below) told them we'd leave right away if they would take our picture in a giant pyramid. They were good sports and we had three cops snapping photos while we all posed. It was so funny and they were cracking up!
Then they really kicked us out and we went back to the hotel to sit around and chat till the wee hours of the morning. My 6am alarm the next morning was painful!
What an awesome weekend with so many neat and creative friends!! This was one of those momcation where I came home completed exhausted and took a nap for 4 hours! I was so grateful that Kevin was willing to watch the kids so that I could have such a fun weekend (that was also really useful in terms of my blog too).
Here are a few of my friend's blogs if you want some other great kids activities and resources!
