Weekend in South Haven

We spent the holiday weekend visiting grandparents in South Haven.

Of course, Kai and I spent part of the time out looking for Pokémon. Here he is by North Beach with the lighthouse in the background.

Later, we went to the beach to go swimming.

Well, Kai wanted to go swimming. My wife and I wanted no part of going in the water. It has been an unseasonably cool spring so far and Lake Michigan has yet to warm up. The air temperature was also cool on this day, only in the upper 60s.

But that didn't stop Kai from going in.

He wanted to try out the snorkeling equipment we bought for our next vacation later this summer.

I was just happy that he didn't implore that I come in and join him in the water.

The next day, Bubbe took us to use the pool at her health club. The water was warmer and much more conducive to swimming.

And speaking of Bubbe, Kai is now taller than her...

The above photo was taken after she demonstrated to Kai how to use the paddle ball.

We always do fun activities in South Haven, but best part of going there is to visit with Bubbe and Papa. We had not seen them since Hanukkah and they were especially happy to see us, and Kai in particular, this time. Here we are getting ready to have the best hot dogs I've ever had (Kosher dogs from Chicago's Romanian Kosher Sausage Co.). Bubbe had red, white, and blue plates and decorations for both Memorial Day and to commemorate my wife recently becoming a U.S. citizen.

On Monday, we took a walk together to walk along the lakefront. Here we are just across from the South Haven lighthouse.

And here we are looking back toward shore. It was a very windy day and there was a man doing kiteboarding. It is hard to see, but in the picture below you can see the giant "kite" in the right top portion of the photo. The kite/sail is connected by rope to a man on a board in the water. With the wind blowing so strongly, he was really sailing across the water very rapidly.

After that, we walked down beside the river and found a spot where Kai could feed ducks.

The ducks here get fed regularly so many of them were not hungry, but Kai found one that eagerly gobbled up the pieces of bread he had.

On the way home from Michigan, we stopped in Chicago to celebrate my birthday with dinner at Chicago Kalbi, a yakiniku restaurant. Yakiniku means grilled meat in Japanese, and yakiniku restaurants are where you can barbecue your own meat right at the table. I believe this cuisine originated in Korea, and you can have a similar experience at Korean BBQ places.

We ordered the kalbi (marinated short ribs), beef tongue, and bulogogi (thinly sliced ribeye in marinade).

Kai said his favorite was the beef tongue, while I liked the ribeye the best.
In addition to the meat, we ordered vegetables to grill. They also brought out kimchi and other fermented Korean and Japanese vegetables which were delicious.

And after we got home, I got to blow out candles and we all enjoyed birthday cupcakes.

So it was a great weekend all around!