I wanted to share 2019 in review as well as what blogging has made possible for our family this past year. As a kid, I remember my mom telling me ‘it doesn’t hurt to ask.’ I’ve used this advice and paired it with a quick rebound after any ‘nos’ I receive. After 30 years I’ve gotten REALLY great at letting the ‘nos’ roll off my back. In 2019 I really leaned into this tactic and it awarded us with some really awesome opportunities.
WHAT BLOGGING HAS MADE POSSIBLE FOR OUR FAMILY
It all started in February when I received an email from Visit Fort Wayne asking if I’d like to join them with a few other bloggers on a weekend trip to see their city. I honestly thought it was a mistake that my email got on the list because the others on the list had much bigger followings. They travel all over the world for their blogs. I had done some travel writing but always on our own dime, until this year.
I’d accepted the trip and as I talked to people about being excited about my first FAM (familiarisation) trip to Fort Wayne they gave me a funny look. They were confused about why I was excited to visit Fort Wayne. Having never heard about Fort Wayne, I didn’t understand why they were negative about Fort Wayne. ‘It’s the second-largest city in Indiana’, I’d say. They’d reply with stories of why I shouldn’t go.
Fort Wayne
Thankfully, I didn’t listen to them and was excited about my trip. Come to find out, Fort Wayne is amazing. Despite having rough patches over the years, they’re completely turning their city around and making it a destination location again. I wrote about my trip in three parts ( part 1, part 2, part 3) because there was so much to talk about from my trip! The best part of that weekend was meeting other travel writers and gaining a relationship with an Indiana CVB (Visit Fort Wayne). The trip included my new favorite restaurant Tolon, an awesome walkable mural trail, and a peek at the origins of my favorite chocolate company DeBrand. We’re planning a trip back this summer!
Local Indianapolis Attractions
The Children’s Museum
We’ve lived in Indiana for nearly 4 years now, so I’ve made quite a few connections with family-friendly locations. This year I continued to work with The Children’s Museum in seeing new exhibit openings such as Paw Patrol, Take Me There: Greece, and Hotel of Spells.
Conner Prairie
Conner Prairie had a big year with the opening of Merry Prairie Holiday and continued to make it our favorite stop no matter what time of year. Headless Horseman, bread baking in William Conner’s house, Treetop Outpost, and hanging out after school was our favorites this year.
Indianapolis Zoo
The zoo has been upgrading and adding major projects for several years. Right now they’re expanding their elephant area. We were excited to welcome the sloths and snakes exhibits this year as well as enjoy our traditional Zoo Boo and Christmas at the Zoo events as a family.
Indiana State Museum
In my opinion, the Indiana State Museum is a hidden gem for families to explore. In the past few years, they have really focused on making sure their exhibits are hands-on and interesting for people of all ages. This year we were able to check out the Amazed exhibit, Celebrations Crossing, and the grand opening of Firefly Landing. Between their awesome temporary exhibits, they cycle through, their amazing permanent exhibits, the IMAX and Firefly Landing, ISM is a full-day attraction.
Summer Camps and Lessons
This year I made some new friendships with local businesses I wanted to help promote. Through trade, I was able to write about our experiences at several locations in exchange for classes and lessons. In 2019, I was an ambassador for Carmel Clay Parks and Recreation which allowed Sophia to experience several of their summer classes including Junior Engineering & Chemistry, Hip Hop, and Knee-High Naturalists. She had a lot of fun learning about science, nature, and dance through CCPR. She also took a week-long summer camp learning how to cook and bake with Sprouts Cooking School. The week she chose was Fairy Tale themed so each day’s food items revolved around a different story. They would cook and read books all morning and it was one of her favorite classes this summer.
You know those businesses that you fall in love with but they’re far away? That’s Line + Form for me. I am thrilled with the classes they offer to kids, families, and adults. This summer Sophia attended a week-long Fairy and Unicorn camp where she met great friends and used her imagination to create all day. They’ve since moved downtown Indianapolis to be more centrally accessible for people in Indy.
One of my favorite partnerships from this year has been with Goldfish Swim School in Fishers. Both girls were able to take swim lessons all summer with the main focus being safety. Lilly is still taking lessons and they’re the highlight of her week.
Memberships
One of the other highlights this year has been partnering with local businesses for membership discounts. Defy Indy opened at the beginning of the year and it’s one of our favorite places to burn off energy. I love it because you can see across the entire trampoline park. As a parent of multiple children, this makes the experience so much less stressful! I also partnered with Massage Heights at Ironworks and they’ve now opened a second location in Fishers! In January 2019 I started getting massages and found that if I went regularly I didn’t have the chronic neck and back issues I’d previously been having. I pay for my memberships but it has been wonderful being able to have a discount through sharing these great businesses with my followers.
Visit Hendricks County
Our summer FAM trip was to Plainfield, Danville and Avon in Hendricks County (where I grew up). We enjoyed seeing things that weren’t there when I was growing up. We even started a summer tradition of going to make tie-dye at Tie Dye Lab, stopping for lunch at Oasis Diner and then going to the waterpark Splash Island.
Santa Claus
In the fall I worked with Visit SoIn where we visited Santa Claus and Jeffersonville. It was really fun revisiting Holiday World with both girls after having visited with just Sophia a few years ago. As a family of sweet tooths, Santa’s Candy Castle was also a highlight of the trip.
Jeffersonville
Jeffersonville is right on the border of Indiana and Kentucky. I wish we had more time to explore this sweet town. On our trip to Jeffersonville, we saw fossils from when Indiana was underwater millions of years ago, learned how to make hard candy at Schimpff’s Confectionery and had some of the best pizza we’ve ever eaten at Parlour.
French Lick
The winter called for one last FAM trip of 2019 with a trip with Visit French Lick. Despite only having two days for our adventure, I had to write a two-part (part 1, part 2) post about all the fun we had. I’ve already started planning a trip back when the weather is warmer because we enjoyed it so much. During this trip we were in awe over the amazing hotels (French Lick Springs Hotel and West Baden Springs Hotel), a ride on the Polar Express, having more of the best pizza ever at Vintage Cafe, and learning about animals (including feeding giraffes and lemurs) at Wilstem Ranch.
Networking
Along with the wonderful relationships I made through the visitors’ centers and local businesses, I had a goal of meeting more bloggers. I’ve made an awesome blog tribe around greater Indy who meets once per month to talk blogging. I also made some great friends from my solo trip to Disney World where I went to the Flock conference. Blogging can be a very solitary job if you stay glued to your camera and computer. Being an extravert I love the relationships I’ve made through blogging and am excited to see what 2020 will bring!
I’m so thankful I said yes to Visit Fort Wayne. I’m proud to have asked for partnerships with the businesses I wanted to promote this year. I did not make as much money as years passed because I spent time making these relationships rather than doing sponsored content. At the end of the year, I’m thankful I made that choice and will continue to do the same in 2020!
If you have any questions about blogging, I’m happy to share! If you’re a blogger, I’d love to hear what blogging has brought to you in 2019!
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