Exploring San Francisco while dancing

I am a Life360 ambassador which means I help contribute to the site’s blog and sometimes I share updates about the app. I was not paid to write this post, but Life360 shared a hotel room, two meals and transportation around San Francisco during our stay.

I’m lucky to a part of a small community of women who are ambassadors for the Life360 app. I’ve written about my relationship with the app company before. But basically, it’s a family communication and connection tool that is also a great way to stay in touch with your closest friends. To celebrate the ambassadors, Life360 and its community manager, Lizz Porter, invited us to explore San Francisco. I warned Lizz I was bringing the kids with me and she didn’t even blink.

Because we live in a not-so-convenient location, we flew in a day early to make sure we got to San Francisco in time for our Life360 gathering. Lizz was kind enough to pick us up from the airport. (Of course, I kept up with her location with the help of the app. It’s so cool to know when you don’t have to keep calling and asking, “Are you here yet?”) Our hotel didn’t have our room ready yet, so the kids and I dropped off our bags and started walking a few miles around the city.

Why walk? Well, I wanted the kids to really soak in the city. We walked down Market Street, snacked at the Ferry Building and walked along the various piers until we reached the seals on Pier 39. Cameron was so excited to catch glimpses of Alcatraz. (Which didn’t have any open reservations until mid-August.) Jordan was excited to climb and explore and admire the ocean and palm trees. They were both annoyed I made them walk so much. But they appreciated the beauty of the city.

We also discovered some unexpected fun outside the San Francisco Exploratorium!

I also kept them moving with the goal of eating some In-N-Out Burger… Something we cannot find in Missouri. We also walked over to Ghiradelli to enjoy some chocolate.

The next day, the kids had a chance to explore Muir Woods with a good friend and her kids. Wow, I love it there. But the traffic of San Francisco had us cutting it close for our big Life360 San Francisco tour. The kids and I and our ambassador friends hopped on board a disco bus (for real, you could dance in the bus) to see all of the neighborhoods and historical touch points of the city. In between the kids being crazy, they took the time to check things out.

After our awesome tour (I learned all kinds of cool historical facts I hadn’t known before about San Francisco), we enjoyed a delicious dinner. Jordan actually loved duck bolognese. I was so impressed. The next morning, we did another San Francisco classic that I had never done before: Ride a cable car. Cameron and I rode on the side of the car which he was a bit intense for him when we had to “suck it in” as we drove by closely parked trucks. The other Life360 friends on the side were much more amused.

We enjoyed a delicious meal at Buena Vista Cafe (home of the original Irish Coffee) and a little extra San Francisco exploring time before we had to head out and get serious in San Jose for the BlogHer conference.

This visit to San Francisco was an incredible gift. I had a chance to spend time with a group of wonderful women and my kids had a one-of-a-kind experience in the city. It’s a place I had always wanted to share with them and the Life360 team gave us that experience in a way I could have never expected. We are so thankful.

Life360 did not require I write this post, but we appreciate the experience and wanted to share a bit of it with you.