BlogHer - I think I'm going (yikes!)

So the more I think about it, the more I think I'm going to BlogHer. The timing and location couldn't work better for me. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm starting to get excited anyway.

My parents, bless them, have taken the kids away from us for a few weeks every summer since Alex finished kindergarten. The first year they took them for two weeks (which was planned and executed very rapidly, as we had sold our house and were borrowing a one-bedroom apartment for three weeks until our new house was ready....Mom knew that three weeks+four people+one bedroom=disaster and totally saved the day) (and they took the kids to an amusement park and a family reunion). Last year, the kids spent two weeks away again, with a few days spent at my parents' church's sleepaway camp.

This year, I received an email from Mom, letting me know that since the kids would attend camp for a FULL WEEK this year, she and Dad would require a longer visit. As I pulled the calendar together, I realized that they'll be gone for three weeks this year. We'll drive east for a cousin's wedding, make the switch there, and then the kids will head north. Meeting in Chicago the weekend of BlogHer is the optimal time to get the kids back. And while Chicago is not halfway, it is where my brother and his fabulous girlfriend live, and we ought to visit them more often than, say, never. Which is how many times we've visited them.

And when I asked my brother if it was convenient for me to come, he said, "Absolutely!" and when I emailed Mom to let her know what I was thinking, she replied that it was "Perfect."

So....who else is going? And am I going to miss all the fun if I stay with my brother and not at the hotel? And what if I miss Friday? Will I feel like I'm playing catch-up all day Saturday, or is it worth going just for one day? I need feedback!