Are you singing it now? Do you hate Genevieve as much as I do? If you have no idea what I’m talking about, count your blessings.

The kids and I made a quick trip to Pennsylvania to visit my BFF Erin and celebrate her baby’s 3rd birthday. I guess I should stop thinking of him as a baby now but OMG when will all these kids stop with the growing up!? I can’t take it! We went down a day early to make robots out of boxes and peel crayons and other various party prep (super cute robot party pics to come) but we managed to squeeze in a whole day of trains, big and small. I think the next party I plan might have to be train-themed.

We went to a train museum in the morning that was fun for the grown ups but not particularly kid-friendly. Did you know there are hundreds of train cabooses and boxcars just sitting around that you can buy for like $9,000? Or that there are still private rail cars with kitchens and bunks that are basically RVs on rails and that Amtrak will hook them up to their trains? I am now obsessed with the idea of owning a train car of ANY KIND. Maybe I read too many Boxcar Children books as a kid (False: there’s no such thing as too many Boxcar Children books).

After lunch we went to Kempton for a special Children’s Day at the WK&S Railroad. For $14 total Evan, Caroline and I rode a little motorcar on the tracks, rode on the big train in an antique car, saw a super cool model railroad, played with the Recycled Railroad, jumped in the bounce house and had ice cream. I believe the appropriate expression is: WINNING.

Model train set up inside an actual train car

Evansville

It makes me want to get my trains out of the basement…until I remember what a total pain in the ass they are to set up and run.

This guy made a Recycled Railroad entire out of trash.

Evan was REALLY excited to “drive” the train.

These little cars went REALLY fast. Ours had a rood and a windshield so it was a little less terrifying. The kids loved it.

Caroline thought we should go faster.

Then it was time to ride the train

Engineer

We had half a car to ourselves and the kids loved it.

She’s thinking about running away.

She loved the train.

Erin is sitting next to her in this picture, holding her ankles to make sure she doesn’t fall out. Because she was REALLY determined to fall out.

Amazed that he’s actually on a train.

Dreaming

My new dream house.

Whistle!!!

Friend Reid

The tracks aren’t connected to anywhere anymore, so the engine turns around at the end of the line and we go back to the station.

And here is the part of the post where I started playing with filters to break up the 10 zillion photos.

Chillaxing, vintage style (sandals, $15, Target)

Please note: I tried tinting my eyebrows AGAIN. It was a mistake AGAIN. This picture looks even more ridiculous in color.

So happy

And then I paid $3 so Evan could ride a pony because I am a sucker.

The pony’s name was Pokey and Evan wanted to take him home.

He was so brave about everything all day. I love my little adventurer.

And then we had ice cream.

Bouncing!

I kept thinking how adorable this place would be for a wedding.

Although this was the smiliest picture I got, he liked ALL the stuff we did, not just the ice cream.

Today is my 4 year bloggiversary. This was my first post, which was stupid and uninteresting so I posted again later. That one was a little better – much too over-sharey and full of run on sentences, but at that point I thought I was just writing anonymously into a void no one was ever going to find.

Four years later I still call my husband E, I still overshare too much, and I’m still blogging. And since you’re reading I owe you a huge thank you. If I was smarter, cooler and more organized I’d have set up an amazing giveaway, but despite my 1300+ posts I’ve yet to have a single company send me a free washing machine (rude). But the friends I’ve made, advice I’ve gotten and support I’ve received from this little corner of the interwebs are worth a hundred washing machines. Thank you so much for everything.

xoxo

Suzanne

If you are not a blogger and couldn’t care LESS about blogging conferences (which you imagine are pretty much like Star Trek conventions without the awesome dorky costumes)(you’re wrong, by the way, blogging conferences are MUCH more uncool than Star Trek conventions) feel free to skip this one. I’ll have more ginger baby pictures up in an hour or two.

I saw lots of people and did lots of things

I started writing this post days after coming back from BlogHer’11 in San Diego, when the whole experience was still fresh. I added to it for a few weeks as I gained some perspective and finished it up just yesterday when I was talking to some of the friends I made last year. Since I’ve only been to one BlogHer I am by no means an expert, but I hunted down and read every single one of these posts I could find last year so I thought I’d throw my hat peacock feather fascinator in the ring.

Pre- and At BlogHer Advice

1. The fun actually starts long before the conference. Last year, almost everyone I knew got into town on Wednesday night, so they had all of Thursday to hang out and/or attend Pathfinder Day. I didn’t want to leave my nursing baby for an extra day so I skipped it – and regretted it (well, not the part about missing the baby, the part about missing the fun). I’m going to make sure I’m in NYC for a long time.

2. Don’t be afraid to call your friends. Even the ones you previously only talked to online. I did a lot of texting and tweeting and Belugaing (a free app that’s like texting), but would miss people because of lag time and I ended up being alone more than I wanted to. But the women who were brave enough to just dial a number and say “Hey, where you at?” met up with their posses much faster.

3. 200 business cards is too many. I handed out a LOT, even to my friends, just because my cards were super cute but I still came home with at least half of them, even after dropping a bunch in bowls for giveaways.

4. Nobody cared what I was wearing. I spent tons and tons of time worrying about it but in the end all that mattered was having comfortable shoes. If you’re a fashion blogger, you’re already good at wearing cool clothes. If you’re anyone else, just wear clothes.

5. Don’t commit to things that will keep you away from your friends for too long. Sure, private parties and invites and appointments and swag suites are AWESOME, but your time is precious and if no one you came to BlogHer to see is invited to your super secret event you’ll be there alone. One of my roommates last year went to a private party that was incredibly cool but took place on an island after a boat ride and she missed a ton of fun (SPARKLECORN) because she was there.

6. Put away your phone. I had SUCH a hard time doing this, but my best conversations happened after my phone was dead and I was forced –FORCED I TELL YOU – to focus on the people I was actually with.

7. Send some emails. Start a Facebook group. G-chat. Really get to know the people you are hoping to hang out with. EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING IT, and if you let your social anxiety prevent you from talking to your friends’ faces through the internet it will be a lot worse when you try to do it in person.

8. The Expo Hall is a great way to connect with brands but it is not the ONLY way to connect with brands. A lot of companies send representatives to the actual conference, so it never hurts to chat with the strangers at your table. The first company to contact me after BlogHer with actual stuff I was actually interested in using was because I put on my best brave and friendly face and sat with strangers during lunch.

9. Come up with a brief summary of your blog so that when people ask what you blog about you don’t say “Oh just my kids and stuff”. Sometime this is called an elevator pitch, but that name totally put me off. I thought “Naaaah, I’m not going to pitch my blog to everyone I meet! Imma just be ME”. I somehow forgot the ME the people (might) know IS my blog – and the ME brand representatives and sponsors want to get to know is my blog too. Since I’m slightly awkward in person (SHOCKING I KNOW) I’m going to plan ahead a little better this year.

10. Have a good time. Let your hair down. Dance on the stage with the DJ. But remember: falling down and throwing up are no fun, so don’t let “Open Bar” mean “Super Drunk”.

Post-BlogHer Advice:

There will be a LOT of posts about BlogHer and what people thought and where they went and how they loved seeing their friends. Sometimes they will mention you. Sometimes they won’t. Don’t let their memory of the conference skew your memory. If you had the Best Time Ever then it WAS the best time ever. If you were a little disappointed then it was a little disappointing. Stay in contact with the people you met and enjoyed. Don’t feel obligated to add every single blogger to your Google Reader, but it might be worth adding them all to your Twitter for a few weeks to see if you have stuff in common (Pro tip: go through the pile of business cards you collected while waiting for your flight/train home and everyone is still fresh in your mind. It’s a great time to tweet “It was great to meet you!” so they can follow you back).

To be 100% honest with you, I spent way, way too much time last August worrying everyone I had met secretly hated me or thought I was fat and ugly and lame and boring. I’m sure I won’t be able to avoid some of those same feelings of doubt (hellooooo, I’m a blogger because I am insecure and awkward and you probably are too) but it’s a full year later and since most of the internet friends I met at BlogHer11 are STILL my internet friends, I’m assuming they don’t dislike me too much.

If you’re going to BlogHer in NYC and we aren’t already friends, let’s start now. Tweet me, email me, comment here, or just come find me (I’ll be hosting at the Serenity Suite on Saturday from 2pm-4pm) and we can go get some free humus or cottage cheese together. One month! I’m so excited!

That’s real Elmo, not some cheap knock off.

p.s. If you’re looking for me this year, I’ll be wearing pretty much ALL the same clothes as I am in the above photos. Just to make it easy for you.

Please excuse a gratuitous number of photos this week. It was what one might call “eventful”.

Sunday:

She has already grown accustomed to a life of luxury

Cleopatra directing her slave barge around the pool

TWO DISHWASHERS

Caroline ate that ENTIRE block of cheese

Monday:

It feels sort of wrong to watch Fresh Beat Band in the room filled with authentic old movie posters

Impossibly green lawn

Burying herself in the sand

Bubbles bubbles bubbles my bubbles

Tuesday:

CFA on the way out of town, obviously

Step 1: Aim phone out window without looking Step 2: press button 42 times Step 3: get one crooked picture of South of the Border because your trip wouldn’t be complete without it.

I told them if they won the lottery we could go back to the beach house

Wednesday:

Pushy sheep

Friendly bird

IN YO FACE Antelope

Adorable almost-twins (Judah is 3 days older than Caroline!)

Thursday:

Kisses for MorMor

Musical genius (player piano)

My favorite player piano roll, since I was a small child who would dance around a pole in my grandmother’s basement. Yeah.

This is what happens when you visit childless friends – a chest in front of the basement door hole and Jenga as building blocks.

Friday:

REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THE BOAT

IT’S 105 DEGREES OUT WHY THE HELL ARE WE NOT INSIDE???

PotBelly Baby

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

She’s a Pinkberry fan.

Saturday:

Storm damage in my parent’s neighborhood. (Fun fact for people this might mean something to: this is Jamie’s old house)

Yikes. No one was hurt.

Good luck climbing over this branch Mom.

Inside: cold and dark. Outside: SURFACE OF THE SUN.

Also we ate a bunch of stuff and went fishing and rode on a carousel and went to the pool and went to ANOTHER pool with a friend I hadn’t seen in 12 years and a bunch more stuff I didn’t take pictures of because I was having too much fun and/or trying to keep the kids from accidentally killing themselves and/or me. But tomorrow we are finally headed home to Connecticut and E and Brutus and our normal life…at least until Wednesday when we head up to Massachusetts for the 4th and more beach and more pool. But THEN I’m hoping life will go back to normal and by normal I mean GOOD LORD THESE CHILDREN NEED NAPS.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

The beach house has a burned out light bulb, no air conditioning in the elevator, a hot tub that is too hot, and there are too many desserts I have to eat before I leave. So obviously by “unacceptable” I mean WAY MORE THAN ACCEPTABLE. It is still the most amazing house I’ve ever stayed in (or probably WILL ever stay in) in my life.

We’re having an amazing time at the beach, full of swimming and cake and she crab soup (if you don’t know what that is I don’t think we can be friends anymore) and amazing long-time friends who love me despite my overly tired children. Tomorrow I head back to Virginia for a vacation-recovery period at my folk’s house. I’m sure MorMor and Bumpa will be happy to hold Caroline and get Evan cups of milk while I lie on the floor in a coma caused by too much sun and cream-based foods. Although we also have plans to go fishing and swimming and to see some wild animals at the Reston Zoo and I’m hoping to meet up with some of my interwebs friends who live in Northern Virginia (so hey, if you live in Virginia, let’s get together!)

Being here without E has been a little bit of a challenge though. So far Caroline has smashed her face into the ground, tried to drown herself in a tide pool, fallen off the boardwalk into a prickle bush and narrowly avoided running into an alligator (although all of those – especially the last one – are obviously my fault.) She’s a tiny force of nature who cannot be stopped, even by colliding with hard surfaces. And let’s not even talk about the bug bites on Evan’s legs. He looks like a leper, he’s SO chewed up. So my parenting gets about a 3, although the fun level is still about a 9 and as of 4:46 pm on Monday everyone is still alive. Look! I have proof!

HELP HELP MY MOTHER IS NEGLECTFUL!

OK, that wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. Here, how about these?

See? Still alive! And happy! Just don’t look to closely at Evan’s legs in that 3rd picture. And here’s one more to make your head explode:

I’ll be back with how to travel with two toddlers on your own travel tips soon! Oh wait, no. Because my only travel tip is ear plugs. SERIOUSLY.