An unexpected benefit of doing this walk was how loved it made me feel. I really just wanted Megan to know she wasn't alone, but I also ended up being reminded that I am surrounded by people who love me. I am kind of at a funny phase in my life right now and I don't always know where I fit in. It can be lonely sometimes. My old roommates Chandler and Jilynn who are busy raising their own families both donated. Jilynn took the time to push me over my $500 goal just after she got home from having her third baby. Megan and I both feel so loved because of all of your support and good wishes.
Here is Dad before the big event. He is wearing his official "Team We Love Josh" pin. I made pins for everyone to wear for the big event. They all had different pictures of Josh. (Megs - I'll save the buttons for you to see in July.) We had a lot of fun telling a certain story that occurred last time we were all wandering around looking for our car outside the Rose Bowl. I won't go into further detail in order to spare Brandon's dignity. You can give me a call if you want to hear the story.
Here are a couple crowd shots. By the time the walk started, there were about twice as many people as when I took these pictures. I was really surprised by how many people showed up. The place was packed. The really cool part was all of the booths they had set up. We got there pretty early to make sure we had enough to time to park and register. The event was really well organized so after we breezed through the registration we had about an hour to walk around and look at the 100+ booths. A lot of the booths had activities set up for the kids, it was a very kid-friendly event. I was impressed by the wide variety of programs in our area to help autistic kids.
There were a couple of sets of storm troopers wandering the crowds. We knew we had to get a picture for Evan and Jonathan. I'm not sure what storm troopers have to do with autism. I think it was just part of the fun. They also had a bunch of bounce houses for the kids. There was also some guy in a red cape and helmet wandering around. I didn't know who he was supposed to be so I didn't take a picture.
Here we are before the walk in our matching t-shirts. There's nothing better than a free t-shirt.
Here is Mom pretending to be tired after the walk. There was a long course and a short course for the walk. We chose the short course since Chelsea is pregnant and we'd already been there for several hours. Ten minutes later we were done with the walk. We were all cracking up, it was a laughably short walk. I got a lot of complaints from Brandon about how short the walk was. I think he was disappointed to miss the chance to display his athletic prowess. But he still snuck in some Brandon-style fun. Shortly after I took this picture he dumped some water on my head. He said it was because I was team captain, I am not so sure.
Thank you again everyone. This was a wonderful experience. I promise not to ask any of you for money again anytime soon. ;)
