It is no surprise to many of you why we named our annual Memorial Game Days for Ethan “Jolt-on!”. His beloved Pokémon of all time is a Lightening Pokémon named Jolteon. This classic electric-type character was introduced in Generation 1 and is highly regarded by Ethan for his incredible speed and special attack in competitive battles. We find his JOLT character hanging out in many circles these days and look after him with great care. Ethan brought his love for the game of Pokémon, card collections, and team building into many communities throughout his life. Our goal for this year is to remember Ethan through the joy of sharing the abundance of the Pokémon Universe.

Many of you also know that 2026 marks the 30th Anniversary of Pokémon GO! This worldwide event kicks off here in Chicago in just a few days on June 5th with the Pokémon Festival. We look forward to joining in the festivities as we know Ethan would be excited for the discovery of all that is planned in honor of the game. Remembering Ethan in honor of his love for Pokémon is an exciting Memorial Game Day event we hope you will share with us!

WHAT: JOLT-ON 2026 Memorial Game Days Pokémon Universe

Our joy in remembering Ethan’s love for Pokémon and specifically his Jolteon friend.

WHEN: June and throughout 2026

Traditionally, our Memorial Game Days’ time period starts on Ethan’s 26th Birthday and ends with his Heaven Day on June 9th. This year, you are welcome to extend out into the year ahead due to the multiple festivities in the Pokémon Universe!

Schedule: Wang Family Events to Remember

There are many ways in which we will share our memories of Ethan with Pokémon throughout this year. Some of the events you can look forward to during the Memorial Game Days are:

• Pokémon Universe
• Ethan’s Team: Townsville Thunderbolts
• For the love of Pokémon Cards!
• Field Trip: Pokémon Fossil Museum at the Chicago Field Museum
• Honoring PUBA
• Lego and Pokémon… who knew!
• Pokémon sightings: Where in the world is Jolteon and other character favorites

HOW: Calling all Pokémon Trainers!

Join with us in sharing how you are remembering Ethan through the Pokémon Universe this year. Some ideas to get your creativity started…

• Wear your favorite Pokémon gear on Ethan’s Heaven Day, June 9th and share a picture with us!
• Host a Pokémon tournament
• Share your Jolteon sightings in the Comments
• Find community sharing card collections and trading with friends
• Jolt-On! Play your favorite Pokémon Game
• Join us online for Pokémon Universe trivia! Date TBA
• Trek to the Chicago Field Museum to experience the Pokémon Fossil Museum between now and April, 2027

In whatever way you choose to join us… We are looking forward to all the ways you are remembering Ethan as this fourth year since his passing comes to a close. Remember, when you share in the Memorial Game Days with us, we will send you our 2026 Commemorative Pokémon stickers and wear-ables as a thank you for joining us! We are planning a special Jolteon Keychain for the 2026 Memorial Game Days.

Please share in the comments below. If you have a file or image to include, please email it to jolton@wfour.net and we will add it to your comment post.

Remembering Ethan on the 4th anniversary of his Leap Day, we
have something exciting in store. Please check back to catch more
information on the unique game days for this year… 2026…
gotta catch ’em all!

“Be mindful of the world around you.” It is a statement that I have expressed to our sons over the years and intended as fatherly advice about the importance of awareness. Easily said, but sometimes difficult for young boys to visualize. I have been able to use our love of Studio Ghibli films for teachable moments about being attentive of the world we live in. More than just telling a story, these beautifully animated films offer life lessons on self-discovery, perseverance and the appreciation of everyday moments.

As we move forward into the third JOLTeON! Memorial Game Days, I am reminiscing on how Ethan shared (and for Noah as he continues to share) these films to build community, cherish relationships and embrace change across a diverse group of friends and soon-to-be friends.
These are stories worth sharing.

Check out our Game Days schedule for ideas on this summers
theater lineup and other ways to share the stories of Studio Ghibli.

Entering 2025 was honestly very difficult. I knew it would mark another year, the 3rd, without Ethan’s physical presence. However, THIS year has another ring to the longing of sharing life with him. It would be his 25th…

In honor of Ethan’s amazing capacity to share life through creativity, artwork and story telling, we have chosen to frame this years remembering activities through his love of Studio Ghibli. To those who choose to remember Ethan with us, we invite you to look back on the years of having him near through the ways he shared it with each of us. I have learned that sharing Ethan’s joyful spirit, now that he is heavenward, brings the color of his life back into focus. So, ending year three provides another chance to remember how he loved all of us by sharing his joys with us.

WHAT: JOLT-ON 2025 Memorial Game Days remembering Ethan through the world of Studio Ghibli

Ethan loved to share his favorite characters and story elements. He found unique ways to weave Ghibli life into the days we were with him.

WHEN: May 30th through June 9th, 2025

This time period starts on Ethan’s 25th Birthday and ends with his Heaven day. You are welcome to extend out into the year ahead if your timeline of remembering is further along in the calendar.

SCHEDULE: Wang Family Events to Remember

Our Family will remember Ethan with the following activities and will share them here during the Memorial Game Days:

• Studio Ghibli Film Festival 2025 – check your local movie theater locations for their current schedule of Ghibli fan favorite movies. You can see the full listing of movie features showcased between May 15th and the end of September this year at gkids.com.
  • If you are in the Fox Valley Illinois area, you might find us at the theater enjoying a box of Mike ‘n Ikes with one of the shows below!
    May 18th begins with Kiki’s Delivery Service
    June 22nd – 24th: The Secret World of Arriety
    July 19th – 23rd: My Neighbor Totoro
    August 10th – 12th: Grave of the Fireflies
    August 23rd – 27th: Ponyo
    September 20th – 24th: Howl’s Moving Castle
    
• Ghibli inspired art/craft activities – we will share with you the joyful ways Ethan brought the characters of Ghibli movies to life.
  
• Ghibli gear. A commemorative Memorial edition t-shirt is available for Ethan’s 25th Birthday. These t-shirts are available from Stickermule.com and showcase the characters of Princess Mononoke as the 2025 JOLT-ON! graphic and are just $19 (we do not make a profit as these are sold at cost through the StickerMule website). Simply a fun way to remember and carry Ethan with us. They ship pretty fast too! Choose from:
  – San and Moro
  – Ahitaka and Yakul
  
• TBD: Studio Ghibli Trivia Night – stay tuned for the date!

HOW: Set aside time to remember Ethan through the stories of Studio Ghibli

Here are some creative ideas to encourage you to join us…

• Host a Studio Ghibli watch party with your friends and share a new title together. Two of Ethan’s favorites are Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away! Your local library should have the movies for borrowing or stream from your favorite service.
• Play the video game Ni No Kuni I or II on the Playstation 3 or 4, PC, or Nintendo Switch platforms.
• Create origami characters from the movies.
• Remember food favorites and gather friends to enjoy them with you… Ghibli inspired snacks, ramen, sushi, gimbap… just to name a few!
• Host a Ghibli themed trivia night. Encourage friends in competitive fun with the movies and characters as you gather to remember!
• Wear a favorite Ghibli gear/t-shirt on Ethan’s would be 25th birthday (May 30th) and Leap Day (June 9th).

We are looking forward to all the ways you are remembering Ethan as this third year comes to a close! Please share in the comments below. If you have a file or image to include, please email it to jolton@wfour.net and we will add it to your comment post.

As we prepare to remember Ethan on the 3rd anniversary of his Leap Day, please check back for more information on what we are doing to remember him in this year… 2025…

JOLT-ON! Memorial Game Days 2025

As June comes to an end, we are grateful for all who joined us in our LEGO challenge. You can always rally anytime throughout the year to remember… just grab your favorite box of LEGO’s and share your creations with us.

Sending you off with one more LEGO short… Enjoy!

GROOT is also one of Ethan’s favorite characters! When I consider the friendships he forged in his 22 years, I can see how he encouraged his friends with strength and a gentle, fun-loving spirit.

In these last two years, there are a number of friends that have really stood out with GROOT-like strength as we are walking through the most unimaginable grief of living without Ethan in our days. It is amazing to me to look at how God has provided each of them as encouragement in unique ways. Some I have known for years, some I have only recently met. Some are brave souls whom purposefully show up without our prompting. Some reached out to introduce themselves during the early and hard days when our son first leaped into heaven and are now close at heart. I am blessed to know each and every one and consider them guardians of strength appointed by the Lord Almighty! While I do not always know or understand what HE is up to in my life, I can say for certain the Lord continues to send each of them during times when we need them most…

Today, in this second year on Ethan’s Eternity day, we are keeping focus with a LEGO art piece: The Great Wave by Hokusai.

As we have been remembering Ethan in these last ten days through his engineering and builder spirit, we turned our basement into a studio. The purpose: to work through this large memorial build as a family. We have posted below the time-lapse progression of our journey throughout the day. It was finished by days end…

There is a LEGO audio recording offered in the set for historical info on the artist Hokusai found at this link if you are interested!

Our finished piece! This has been a peaceful way to remember our son. Thanks for sharing the time with us. Please let us know the impact you have felt in the comments below. We will be pulling all 7 chapters together into a full time-lapse video along with music from Joe Hisaishi’s “Princess Mononoke”. in the next few days.. as you can imagine, Hisaishi’s music was playing in the background as we built all day today!

We hope and pray Ethan’s legacy will inspire you to share LEGO’s and God’s love with others in the days ahead this year!

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