Santa Cruz Boardwalk 2001

There they were - five kids packed tight in a photo booth as only cousins could be during a once a year vacation that spanned the distance from Chicago to California.

Five precious faces frozen in time.
Cousins hamming it up for the camera - a split second chance to look happy, silly, surprised after a day at the beach.

I spied the photo strip in a glass cabinet at Kirk and Beth's house between Christmas and New Year's. I had to have a copy. What a gift to behold - somehow different from the dozens of snapshots we took that week in 2001.

Huddled together as they were makes me feel like I could wrap my arms around them all at once - my son, daughter and nephews. So much has happened since that long ago day. The children have grown up but the connection remains....

Bryant, Chase, Katie, Jared
December 2010

Nick
December 2010