Quotes from Attendees: "I feel so blessed to have attended the conference. It was very emotional, inspirational, motivating and just plain wonderful! Everyone needs to start saving for next year. I am so proud to be a Marine mom and to be a part of this wonderful organization. It's going to take a while to absorb all the honor, courage and commitment I witnessed this weekend. God bless you all and GOD BLESS OUR MARINES!" "The best part about the conference was being with other Marine families - people who understand what it's like to have a family member in the Corps. My wife and I rarely encounter other military families so this was a great experience for us. Our thanks go to those who organized this year's event. We'll look forward to seeing you next year." “We felt completely at home with everyone, as if we had seen them every day of our lives; yet, most of them we had just met that Friday and Saturday. THIS IS TRULY FAMILY, FOLKS!" "It really has been an incredible weekend! The connection and bond of everyone at the Conference is phenomenal -- it can't be described. One Marine who attended dinner said he had no idea there was so much support out here."

If you attended the conference last year, you'll notice we've kept the same format with choices for registration and more informal group sessions and a little more breathing space between events. Our pre-conference schedule starts on Thursday night, but gives you a little more time to relax with new-found acquantances on Friday morning before the chartered busses leave for lunch and the tour. We've kept time to get together with newly-met friends for individual plans and site seeing on Sunday after the conference.

We'll start the informal breakfast at 8 am on Friday, then gather together for the tours at 10:00 Friday morning.

The conference will kick-off with a buffet dinner and opportunities to meet and talk with Marine Corps parents and family members on Friday evening. The Saturday sessions will be general sessions on the most popular topics from last year, including Dr. Bridget Cantrell's PTSD and Warrior Tranisitioning. For those who prefer a hands-on activity, Marine Corps Scrapbooking will be an available as an independent workshop throughout the day.

Our Benefit Dinner Saturday evening is open to guests who do not plan to attend the conference as well. Tickets to the Benefit Dinner are included in the conference registration fee. The dinner will be semi-formal (dress blues for Marines) and we'll be inviting Marines, guests and supporters from around the San Diego area to attend the benefit dinner with our conference attendees.

Our Team Marine Parents™ kickoff is scheduled for the weekend of the conference, Saturday morning, April 18. Team Marine Parents has been an extremely successful outreach project of Marine Parents and we're looking forward to involving folks at the conference this year as well.

We will have a few exibitors, book sales, authors' hall, MarineParents.com Displays, and Our Heroes' Exhibit on Saturday. The Silent Auction will take place during the Benefit Dinner on Saturday evening along with our keynote speaker.

We look forward to seeing you in San Diego in April 2008! Be sure to make your hotel reservations now! To maintain our pricing, we have to meet our minimum booking requirement in room nights at the conference hotel, Crowne Plaza Mission Valley.