new england trip {may 2013}.

while our trip wasn't necessarily for happy, fun reasons (Jae's grandmother passed away, so we went for her funeral), we did have a good few days spent with family in the beautiful new hampshire and vermont.

the first two days, we stayed at Jae's dads house in new hampshire. Jae's sister and brother were also there, and we drove up to vermont together.

{sidenote: even after all these pictures below, Jae and i both left regretting we hadn't taken more pictures or gotten pictures of some of the things we missed. one thing in particular - Jae's grandpa is selling the amazing cabin on the lake. this may very well have been the last trip we all make to that place, and we didn't even get a picture of it or us with it or anything. or a group picture of everyone together. do you ever do that? of course, i got a picture of the food we ate, but i missed some of the important things. got to be better about that.}

i was walking in Jae's dads house, passing windows on my way downstairs, and saw a large turkey roaming around....weird.



DELICIOUS steak tip dinner complete with corn on the cob (which i admittidely ate most of) and salad.

and homemade strawberry rhubarb pie!

out front Jae's dads house. finally it stopped raining and wasn't so cold. 

in vermont, we stayed in a camper trailer type thing that his family rented for the week. we were only about 10 minutes away from his grandpa's cute little house that sits right on the beach of lake champlain. to say that place is beautiful is an understatement.

i've never met most of Jae's extended family (well actually, i've never met any of them..) so it was really awesome after 3 years of marriage to finally meet his grandpa, aunts, uncle, and cousin. they are all such sweet people.

i am so so happy things worked out with work so that we were able to fly back and be there for these few days. it was a true tender mercy.

backyard of Jae's grandpa's house, lake champlain, vermont

petting zoo right in town

that goat was about 3 weeks old and totally adorable

one of the neighbors on the way to the house at the lake - the guy is a bit obsessed with making birdhouses. he's covered all the surrounding trees in the swamp area next to his cabin with them. they're all brightly colored and it's kind of crazy but kind of really awesome, too.

after the funeral, we visited the grave site. she couldn't actually be buried that day because the ground was too wet, so they had to wait until it dried up a bit. i wasn't able to get a picture of the boys carrying her casket because the funeral home people wanted to get it out quickly and back to the funeral home, so we hardly knew they were even doing it until it was already done and gone. it had been really rainy the days leading up, but warmed up and was beautifully sunny the day of her service. how perfect.



Jae's mom, Karen (far right) with her siblings, Kristi, David, and Kay

one of the families favorite pasttimes at their grandparents house - ping pong. they played for a good couple of hours the last ngiht we were there.

baby Jack had a real liking to his great aunt Kay. she held him and he fell asleep real quick.

the service for his grandma was held at the local congregational church. besides all of us family, there were quite a few close friends of sweet miss Bernie that came to show their support and pay their respects. i never got to know her myself, but i can tell by all the stories and the family and friends she had that she was a great mom, grandma, and friend who kicked everyone's behinds in tennis. a few other things i've learned about grandma Bernie in the last few months - she was kind, happy, healthy, a lover of tennis, gardening, cooking, and being with her grandkids. she wasn't one to waste her life away - always having something to do to keep busy and keep her body strong. she ended up finding out she had end-stage liver cancer, and passed away just a few short days later. honestly, i think that's the best way things could have gone for her. like i said, i never got to meet her, but i feel like she would've hated being sick and having others have to care for her for a long period of time. i'm grateful for grandma Bernie and the life she led and example she was for her kids and grandkids. without her, i wouldn't have my Jae.

we love you, grandma Bernie.

you are and will always be missed.

xoxo.