A beautiful day for Nate!

 March 5th turned out to be a beautiful blue sky day.  

Both literally and figuratively.

We did our thing.  Our tradition that brings us comfort.  Known expectations.

We sang.  We cried.  I will never get used to singing Happy Birthday to a child that lives in Heaven.  It will never feel right.  It will never be right.  Never

The day was an amazing blue sky day.  

Perfect weather.  

This was the first year that Brady sent a balloon and birthday wish.  We didn't realize it until after but we sent up 7 balloons for his 7th birthday!

This one was thrilled to watch the balloons float into the sky.  

We tried to explain...he doesn't understand...YET.  

But he does know that Nathan is his brother!

We made it into the Park!!!!!

Thanks to a couple of amazing Disney employees that were kind enough to help us.  

LOVE them!

Brady is completely obsessed with CARS.  

He kept singing Happy Birthday so some of the employees asked him if it was his birthday.  I explained that we were celebrating Nate's...they gave him a special "I'm celebrating Nate" button.

Seriously...Cars Land is the best place ever!!!  We love everyone that works there.

Keeping with tradition we had lunch at Rainforest Cafe.  That place is ridiculously expensive.  Everything at Disney is...  Luckily we had more free kids meal coupons from the Library reading program.  It was SOOOO nice to sit down and be waited on for an hour!  Did I say SOOOO nice? 

We celebrated Nate again.  

The park was empty.  Not crowded at all!  So grateful as we were able to get on most every ride that we wanted to.  It's tough when you only go once a year...so much to do!

We made cupcakes and had a family party near Olaf since we did an Olaf theme.  Abandoned the birthday cake two years ago as it was too difficult to get into the park (Disney does NOT allow cakes -- cupcakes are fine though - whatever).

Made sure that we got the kids balloons before it was too late (like last year).  

I especially love this tradition.

We finished the day at 9pm with our annual trip to McDonalds in honor of our 3 weeks staying at The Ronald McDonald house.  We are so grateful for that organization and happy to learn that Shamrock Shakes help support The Ronald McDonald House Charities.  

Everyone go and buy a Shamrock Shake - NOW!!!!

It was a long day.  We got up early and sent the kids to school for an hour then spent 10 hours at Disney.  We were all exhausted.  Emotions fly when you are tired.  

We were wiped!

Overall it was truly a beautiful day.  

We received a tremendous gift to be able to spend that day as a family at the Happiest Place on Earth.  We find comfort in tradition.  The unknown is scary.   Praying that we can keep this tradition until we are ready to find a new one.

****Thank you to everyone of you that left a comment, email or text remembering Nate.  As they came in throughout the day I was comforted in the fact that people care...people remembered.  Can't really explain it...but it feels like a big huge hug!