Our family is headed to California in March and we couldn’t be more thrilled to explore and experience some of the many things this state has to offer. Why exactly are we going?

The Hybrid Collective Conference – First and foremost, we are headed to the sunny California to continue learning! Continuing education in everything photography (and life) is incredibly important to me. Call me a dork but I will forever be learning new things. I am a firm believer that there is always something more to learn whether that’s improving techniques, digging deeper into film education, improving our client experience or the fine-tuning business practises. This will be my second year attending The Hybrid Collective where the conference brings together hybrid photographers (that photograph using both digital and film) and covers a wide variety of photography topics while being able to network with some of the most talented photographers in the world. I will of course sneaking in a shoot or two because how can you not with such gorgeous warm Californian light?

I will be bringing the whole fam-jam along which means they will be off exploring the Bahia Resort where we will be staying for the conference. My schedule will be packed full during the conference days but my husband and boys will be spending their time beach side and being tourists. If you ask me, sounds like a pretty great trade off.

If you are a photographer following along, I will be posting as much as I can throughout the conference to keep you up to date in the topics being covered. The images in this post were all captured during my time at The Hybrid Collective last year in Nashville.

Once the conference is complete, we will be exploring California together!

Joshua Tree National Park – After a busy few days at the conference, we will be heading over to explore and relax in Joshua Tree National Park to enjoy some downtime and hiking. The park is so vastly different than anything we’ve experienced with the boys so far in terms of landscape so we are pretty excited.

I will be documenting our family adventures on film but will share some sneak peaks digitally with you all while I try to wait patiently for my lap to process the film. Once I receive the scans back, be sure to check back in to see how our family adventure turned out.

Our oldest son is turning 11 during the trip so we will also be celebrating his birthday in Joshua Tree with a little surprise up our sleeves for him too. Also can we just acknowledge that I have a TWEEN now?! I swear the years just fly by once you have children. I wish I could freeze time with my sweet babies.

Disneyland – After celebrating our eldest son’s birthday in Joshua Tree we will be heading to Disneyland to celebrate our inner child and immerse ourselves in the magic of Disney. If you’ve followed our past family adventures, you know that my boys are quite the fearless thrill seekers so the rides will certainly be top on their list… while I’m the biggest baby and pretty much scared of most rides that aren’t meant for anyone over 5 years old.

**Also a quick disclaimer – our boys do NOT know about the Disney surprise yet so please, please, please if you know my children personally don’t spoil the surprise.**

Have you been to Disneyland in California before? We’d love to hear about your experience and favourite rides in the comments! We only have two full days at the park so we want to maximize our experience there.