Cousins | Woodbury MN Children and Family Photographer

My parents, sister and her family, and brother all live in Yakima, WA.  Not gonna lie — the distance sucks and it can be hard sometimes.  I get FOMO when I see them spending time together and I know they miss us as well.  It can be painful being the odd man out.

My sister and I decided to visit each other every other year.  This year, it was her turn to visit us.  She got her kids together, drove two hours to Seattle, then flew here.  We had both been looking forward to this trip for ages!

Yes, distance is hard but the silver lining is how much we enjoy our time when we do get to be together.  We crammed a lot in — the dads and big kids had a blast at Valley Fair, my sister got to watch Christian at gymnastics and dance, my brother-in-law and nephews got to see Rosalie test at taekwondo to earn her blue belt, we visited the Minnesota Zoo, we visited the Minnesota History Center, my sister and I took Rosalie to see The Little Mermaid, we had yummy food like eating at Portillo’s and grilling brats from Von Hanson’s, and so many other things.  It was truly a wonderful trip and memories were made.

They love Yakima and we love Woodbury so moving closer to each other isn’t exactly in the cards, but we are beyond blessed to have such a wonderful relationship despite living 1,598 miles apart.  (Yes, I Googled.)

This is likely the longest blog post I have ever made by a LOT, but I couldn’t help myself.  We love them, miss them and are already discussing what we will do when we visit Yakima next summer.  The wonderful part about traveling to Yakima is we also get to see my parents and brother.

Aside from Christian having Photographer’s Child Syndrome, (it’s a thing, look it up) the kids were amazing and extremely patient for me to get these photos.  They understand how important they are for us and especially their grandparents.

Saying goodbye is always difficult, but I’m grateful for these photos, plus about a billion iPhone photos from our explorations.

Sean (15) Jackson (13) Zachary (11) Rosalie (6) Christian (3)