The Disneyland Do-Over and Family Time

We decided to do the Disneyland Do-Over and try again to create new memories to help replace the sad ones that we left with last time we were there in June. Zach and Sara were able to get our Disneyland 3 day pass tickets extended from the dates that we were originally going to use them initially because we learned of Josh's death the day we arrived last time. Disney was very gracious to work with us and made it possible to help us create a bunch of new memories to ease the pain from our last visit. We are so glad we went, and glad that we were able to spend time with the grand kids as well as celebrate Sara's birthday while we were there. Here are a bunch of pics from our recent trip.

We did a lot of walking.... (actually I got off easy, since they rented a wheelchair for me because I was on doctor's orders to take it easy since I was in the ER only 2 days before I left)

OK, so we took a break occasionally to catch our breath and take a load off the feet... Yes, that is Zach pushing me and Mason in the stroller at the end of Day 1


LOTS, and LOTS of Rides!

This counted for Carter since he got toted all over the park- lol

Zach did NOT like It's a Small World can ya tell? He kept saying, "LAME" this is lame.

THEN CAME THE FIREWORKS!

Disneyland was celebrating Halloween Theme while we were there so we got to see a great

fireworks show set to music of all the villain themes from Disney. Of course it was narrated by Jack Skeleton from Nightmare before Christmas. The park was decorated to the hilt and the firework show was amazing! Better than 4th of July I dare say....

FUN RANDOM FAMILY SHOTS AT DISNEYLAND

Gotta love the backdrop at Disneyland for pictures...

THE CHARACTERS IN THE PARK
Mason got his face painted on the last day there, and we had lots of fun seeing all the

different characters and meeting some of them.

Zach and Carter Visit

Zach and Carter were able to come for the weekend to spend time with all the siblings and Joe and. We wanted to spend time together in memory of Joshua's birthday. Sara and Mason stayed home and we missed them, but we sure did enjoy having Zach here and having some one on one time with Carter. We had planned to go visit the grave with everyone here, however with time constraints and the emotions involved we opted to spend this birthday just spending time together without additional sadness since we knew Josh would have wanted us to celebrate his life. Zach, Carter and I went to the "Sunshine Cafe"

Joe and Carter

Carter was on the "GO" non-stop!

He knows how to climb up to furniture and your legs then stands up to have you pick him up.

Yeah...he is only 6 1/2 mo old! Crawls, sits, pulls himself up and cruises on the furniture.

Thanks for coming...it was nice to have you when we needed to be together!

Happy Heavenly Birthday Josh

Happy Birthday Joshua!

(Oct 8th 1979-June 2nd 2009)

1 day old...
I'm ONE!
I'm Five!
I'm Eight! (Showing off the skateboards they got)

His favorite gift ever though was his guitar...

We miss you so badly, especially today on your birthday. You would have been 30....

The big "3" "0" . We would have had so much fun rubbing that in and making a party out of it. This birthday is bittersweet, it is the first birthday we don't have you here on Earth. It is also your first birthday separated from those you love and who love you. But we know you are in Heaven celebrating your 1st birthday as an angel; and will be able celebrate with the angels that have gone before us. Hopefully you get to have chocolate fudge cake there, it was always your favorite son. Ü

In honor of Joshua I thought it would be best to include some of the things our family misses most, remembers most, and some of the funny things that still make us smile. We know you would have wanted this to be a good day for us too, and wouldn't want for us not to be sad, and so we hope the smiles these memories bring reach heaven and make you smile too. We LOVE you Joshua Joseph Denning- forever and always, until we meet again.

• Every photograph when Josh was little he'd pose with his head titled sidewards. That was his signature pose when he "smiled for the lady" as he used to call it. He grew up with a crooked smile because of that I think? We miss his grin!
• He always had a raspy voice from the time he started talking. He sure made a good singer because of it though...He loved music!
• There wasn't a joke he didn't love to play on you. Always a prankster and loved to tease~ Even from a young boy he loved to laugh and always was the life of the party.
• His siblings remember the teasing, they have many different stories since the boys had the privilege of waking up with barbies cuddled to them, or in Ashley's case the dolls face smooshed in or head backwards, or wondering what that crunchy thing was on their sandwich and finding out it was dog food.
• His first ride on the roller coaster (age 4) he got off and said he hated that ride and wanted to kill it. He later in life was fond of the fast rides though..go figure.
• He loved cars! He collected them and loved to identify them as they drove by, fascinated by the sports cars like Lamborghini or Ferrari especially.
• Was always the first to share or help when you needed it. He dived off a huge cliff to save our camping equipment that blew into the water once, about gave me a heart attack on the spot, but...he saved all our stuff!
• Took pride that he was the oldest and always looked out for his little siblings, when he wasn't teasing them that is. Ü He was always a help.
• Josh loved to play his guitar and sing. He got his guitar at age 8. Josh always enjoyed showing off the new songs he wrote or just entertaining us with his rendition of the "Peanut Butter & Jelly" song. He had an amazing talent with music.
• I think he will be remembered most though for his quirky sense of humor. His funny imitations of Jim Carey or just making silly faces like a monkey or the crazy voices he would use when he called you on the phone. We will always smile when we think of you doing PeeWee Herman or Ace Ventura. Thank you for the Memories Josh....