SNAP!
We are a family of beach kids. We live, breath eat and sleep sand, water and sun. Our days and nights are spent surfing, swimming and tanning. Some evenings we ride our bikes down to the beach and have a picnic. Peanut butter and jelly, sun chips, ice pops and Oreos are some of our favorites. Our love for the beach is almost as strong as our love for each other.
The night before I left for college my family and I took a bike ride down to the beach. As we peddled onto the boardwalk the air felt crisp and cool. The sun was barely visible in the gigantic sky. The sky was glowing the most beautiful light pink and orange I had ever seen. The sand looked rugged but soft with hundreds of footprints scattered around. The five of us walked down the splinter filled steps onto the sand. My stepdad carried a red cooler and my mom carried a bright green blanket. Gage, Kennedi and I carried a football, soccer ball and sand pails. We walked down really close to the water. We sat down on the green blanket and stared at the ocean for a little while. The sky was silver with a tint of pink and orange. The tip of the moon was rising slowly. It was bright and white, like a large pearl against the deep blue sea. The waves crashed slowly on the sand. The water splashed, spread and was sucked back in. I felt overwhelmed watching the waves. I was like the little wave trying to break free, but I wondered if I would get sucked back into my old ways.
Kennedi opened up the peanut butter and jelly. She gave us each a sandwich and we began to eat. We sat there slowly eating our sun chips and sandwiches. We reminisced on the good old times for about an hour. Then, it was picture time. First, we sat on the jetty. The rocks were shiny, black and rough. They hurt a little when I sat down on them, but the pain was bearable. There were coincidentally three rocks to sit on. Of course I took the middle rock because I was the oldest and the tallest. Gage sat on the right of me and Kennedi was on my left. I held them close together, with one arm around each of their shoulders. We gave my mom our biggest smile.
SNAP!
One picture down, only nineteen more to go.


Next we laid down on the sand in a row. Our heads were squished together, our cheeks brushed against each other. Gage put on a fake smile while Kennedi yelled at her dad for spilling her chips.


"Smile please you little rascals," my mom shouted.


We giggled then smiled and rolled our eyes. We were sassy and had attitudes, but my parents dealt with it. Gage was a fighter; he always antagonized us and liked to cause trouble. Kennedi was a whiner and my mom always said she would be in so much trouble if she wasn’t so cute. I was a mediator; calm, cool and collective.
SNAP!


Eighteen more to go. We rolled on our backs and stuck our hands in the air. The ocean spray tickled our arms; the sun was barely visible and the sky was dim. Stars started to peek out from behind the black abyss. We tried to name constellations but it was a complete failure. My mom stood above us as we stared into the sky and took pictures of us talking, laughing and grinning from ear to ear.
SNAP!
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Fourteen more to go.


"It's football time," called Keith. "Me and Kennedi against Kylie and Gage!"
We jumped up, eager to tackle each other. What a surprise.


"You are sooooooo going down old man," I screamed.
We ran so hard I thought our legs were going to fall off. Each tackle was captured by my mom. SNAP!
Kennedi grabbed Gage by the legs and held on until he fell flat on his face in the sand.
SNAP!
Keith picked me up with the football still in my hands and slammed me onto the soft sand.
SNAP!


Gage ran across to the end zone, which consisted of two garbage cans, and scored the touchdown that won us the game. We cheered, twirled and did cartwheels while my mom watched in sheer bliss.


"Hey let's get on the lifeguard's stand and take jumping pictures!" yelled Gage.
It was a brilliant idea. So we climbed up onto the chair one by one and stood at the top. One. Two. Three! We all jumped off of the chair into the air. We jumped with our feet up, hands flailing, smiles wide, hair flowing, and flying high. We hit the ground with a soft thud and laughed so hard we almost cried.
SNAP!
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There were eight pictures left.
We decided to have a fashion shoot. We posed individually.
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We posed together, while lying down, sitting up, in a pyramid and making silly faces.
SNAP!
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There were two pictures left. We stood in a row and took one picture.
SNAP!


We only had one picture left. It had to be the best picture. I needed a picture that represented each of us and the amazing night we spent together. So we stood in a row on the sand. I stood in the back because once again I was the oldest and clearly the tallest. Gage stood in front of me, and Kennedi in front of him. The flowers on my shirt matched perfectly with the sky, but my tight blue jeans were filled with uncomfortable sand. I was beaming as I looked into the camera. I could not have been happier with my family and that was portrayed in the picture. My brother stood slouched. Trying to be somewhat cool, but it was obvious that he was having more fun than he wanted to admit. His arms were spread; he was the rose between two thorns. His smile was bright and his hair was perfectly flipped. Kennedi could not stand still. She was wearing my green sweater and flopping her arms around. She usually ruined the picture but we loved her anyway. She was fun, cute and silly and it was depicted through her stance.
SNAP!
As I looked back at the picture I saw the most beautiful beach picture in the world. The sky was like a painting. The ocean had white caps in all of the right spots. The sand was squished and fluffy. Most importantly, we were all there and our true colors were shining through. Gage was a cool surfer boy, Kennedi was a silly little girl, and I was a loving daughter and sister who could not imagine life without her family.