A Real Life Bloggy Meet Up

When people find out that I met most of my mommy friends via the internet they may find it strange, but I just attribute it to the changing times! Blogs, message boards, and social media websites have made it possible for people across town, state, and country to get to know each other and become friends! Without the internet the Baby Brigade may never have formed and it would be that much harder to keep in touch with my other friends who have moved away! I love the blogging community most of all because it has “introduced” me to like minded mommies across the country with babies similar in age to Carter. Even though there’s a very good chance I won’t meet most of them in real life, we have formed friendships and bonds because of shared experiences! It’s easy to keep in touch via Facebook, Twitter, and email and I feel like I know these girls better than some of the girlfriends I see twice a week! We’ve been able to open up to each other and these relationships are just as important to me as the friends I do see in real life. We had a chance to play with Mrs. F and Gianna a few times this summer while they were in town and I have a long list of online buddies I can’t wait to meet!

So why this long introduction? Well, I finally had the chance to meet one of my most favorite mommy blog friends in real life! When I found out that Tam over at Please Send Parenting Books was vacationing within a few hours of us, Carter and I planned a road trip to go meet her little family! It worked out perfectly that C and I were going to be in South Georgia anyway for Baby G’s first birthday party (post to come) so it was easy to plan a day trip and hop over to Hilton Head Island to spend the day with them! Tam and I have been talking online close to two years. We “met” through our blogs when she was on bed rest and I was hugely pregnant. Baby Owen was born only ten days before Carter so we’ve been sharing our first time mommy journeys together for the last 19 months! We became Facebook friends, exchanged phone numbers, and swap emails on a weekly basis. I couldn’t believe that our paths would finally cross and was so excited. All along, Linc was giving me a hard time and kept telling me that it was a huge scam and I was going to show up to meet Tam and her family and it would be an old, gross man. I sent Tam a text message the night before our meet up stating that much and she called me right away laughing! Thus our very first telephone conversation ever! It happened so naturally and I knew the next day would be a blast!

Carter and I braved the almost two hour drive and met our new buddies at their hotel. Some quick hellos, a few minutes to play toys, and then we were off to The Sandbox- an interactive children’s museum on the island. What a fun place! The boys got a chance to run off some steam and the mommas had a chance to chat. A thousand pictures later, we headed to lunch and I was amazed how well behaved the boys both were! I had so much fun and kept talking about how normal this all felt! It was as if we’d been hanging out every week for the last year! I am thrilled that Tam and I had a chance to meet and can only hope that we’ll get another opportunity in the future! Hopefully I didn’t scare her off ;)

The museum had an airplane cockpit to play in!

Such a fun place!!!! 8 million more pics to come tomorrow…