WILLIAMSBURG — Twins Brooklyn and Allison Bugh don’t remember the start of the tradition, but now it’s become a favorite part of when Pop Pop comes to visit the 13-year-olds in Williamsburg.
When the twins were just 3 weeks old, the grandparents came to visit to help the new parents balance their 3-year-old son and adjust to being a family of five. When Pop Pop Frank was on the clock, he successfully got the twins down for a nap. Not wanting to put them down to risk waking them up, he started cooking dinner. When his son walked into the room, he snapped a photo and a tradition was born.
Every year since, when Pop Pop Frank visits the area twice a year, he poses for a photo with Brooklyn and Allison. Since then, the family has taken more than 20 photos, all relating to cooking, with Frank holding the girls. Frank says now that they are older, they ask to take the photo, usually right as he arrives in town.
“For years, they just didn’t really understand the meaning behind it or anything like that. They just thought, ‘oh well, this is just something we’re doing.’ Now, this last time, the day we got there, they immediately began asking when we were going to take the cooking pictures. They are really excited about it and they’ve seemed a bit disappointed that we only have a small number of pictures like this left to take,” Bugh said.
While the photo itself has stayed the same, Frank added that the pot used in every photo remains the same as well. As the tradition has continued throughout the years, the semi-annual photos have gained quite a following on social media.
As the twins have gotten older, Frank has found himself hitting the gym to prepare to pick them up on his visits. Averaging what he believes they will weigh, Frank has been training by lifting over 205 pounds to prep for the semi-annual photoshoot.
Frank plans to continue the tradition until the girls are 18.
“My goal is for their 18th birthday, we will take the picture of me holding them on The Cooking Channel. I don’t have any connections with the channel, but that’s still my overall goal,” Bugh said.
When the girls turn 19, Bugh intends to flip the script and take a photo with the girls holding him instead. While 19 is the goal, Bugh secretly hopes that the tradition continues far beyond the last year of their teens.
“I love my grandkids and I just love being with them. We have multiple traditions that we do with them. Every year, we take them ice skating at Colonial Williamsburg, we take them to a movie, we take them out to eat, and this is just one of those special traditions,” Bugh said.
Bugh added he will continue to share the semi-annual photos in various Williamsburg-focused Facebook community groups.