D3 Publisher California Mom Blogger Event

This past weekend our entire family took a trip to Santa Monica, California for a special mom blogger event. Among us were seven other families. Attendees: @youngmommy @dealseekingmom @MomStart @mommymandy @momlogic @mysentiment

We started at the hotel on Friday and were welcomed with a bag full of toys, boys, and even a video game. Saturday morning we all gathered in the lobby after breakfast and jumped on an Adventure Tour bus. (yes we had an adventure) On the bus we were introduced to The Secret Saturdays. It’s a new show on Cartoon Network about a family of cryptozoologists. I enjoyed getting to know the cryptid hiding family, and it’s their mission to keep the cryptid’s a secret to protect the human race.

Once we arrived at Papaya Studio we were greeted with our first look at the Ben 10 video game. The game will be released on all systems and holds a number of puzzles. As a mom I like that it’s not all about shooting aliens, the game also has a number of puzzles to solve. Everyone broke into teams and received info from both designers and artists. This was Del’s area of interest and I’ll let him tell you more about how games are made. Papaya has also made a few of his all time favorite games, defiantly a highlight of the trip.

If you saw my tweet then you know the bus broke down on the freeway. D3 did such a wonderful job of keeping everyone entertained by passing out Nintendo DS systems preloaded with  The Secret Saturdays DS games.

A new bus finally came and the adventure continued on to House of Champions a martial arts studio. We got to met the star of Kamen Rider Matt Mullins, and his girlfriend who is the mom of iCarly on that show. She was just there not part of the event. After a quick karate demonstration and lesson the kiddos all got to check out the new Kamen Rider video game.

I love that at every stop all the children got toys, games and even karate gear. Parents got gear as well. It was like one surprise after another and a great way to keep the kids entertained.

Running late we jumped back on the bus for the Astro Boy movie and game preview. We actually got to meet the producer of the Astro Boy Wii game and he gave us a presentation of the game. We grabbed popcorn and candy and hit the state-of-the-art theater at the Dick Clark Screening Room.

Astro Boy the movie: This movie is one of the best I’ve seen all year. When asked what I thought of the movie Del proceeded to tell everyone that I cried. And I did. I’m a sensitive soul and this movie really is for everyone in the family. Our family highly enjoyed the movie and can’t wait to add it to our Blu-ray collection. The movie will hit theaters in a few short weeks and I personally think it’s worth taking the whole family to see.  And we don’t see movies out often.

Like most of the blogging retreats I’ve been to overall it was fabulous. D3 Publisher went above and beyond for our family and we we honored to be a part of this fabulous weekend. While yes basic expenses were paid, including our room every word written here is my own. I come to my own conclusions, and check out Del’s blog for his write up.