Jung Family Vacation in South Haven, Michigan, Day 1: Cornhole and Ping Pong

July 19, 2018

With all the house work we’ve got planned between now and the end of the year… I wasn’t sure we could fit in any vacations. But I’m glad Liz and my sister pushed through on working something out, and we ended up getting a family weekend away this weekend.

We rented a house in South Haven, Michigan – big enough to accommodate all eight of us, and close enough to a beach/water, and nearby shops. Unfortunately… as the weekend drew closer, we saw a great deal of rain in the forecast. Any chances of renting a kayak along the river, or hanging out on the beach, seemed slim.

Ultimately, it looked like we’d be paying a lot of money to play board games in someone else’s house. But honestly, that to me would count as a pretty great weekend vacation.

Even with the car packed and ready to go, Liz wanted to squeeze in just a little more time to water her plants.

It was a short, two hour drive all told – and not too bad. This was the view of the driveway, down to the house.

On arriving, my parents and my sister’s family were already there. Here my dad is peeking in at Jasmine and Jahnu, who discovered they can both fit inside/under this little area.

My family, everyone.

Snacks aplenty. As is becoming a tradition, we tend to bring along a box of donuts for the following morning’s breakfast – given that we’re in Chicago, and now living in the golden age of artisinal donuts.

The house is on the edge of a hill, with the garage and main entrance on the second floor. There are two deck areas – this is on the top level, compelte with seating areas, tables, and a grill. Sadly, we didn’t hang out here very much, due to the rain.

Looking out onto the backyard, which was lovely and massive.

Under the back deck, lower level. Even more lovely seating areas.

Liz and I walked out to the water’s edge with my mom.

As we were admiring the view, someone on a small canoe drifted by.

This is Black River, and connects up to Lake Michigan. I didn’t figure out the distance, but I was partly toying with the idea of us all renting kayaks and paddling out to the lakefront… and then possibly docking at a restaurant for lunch.

Would have been an ambitious thing to try, but the weather was against us. Something maybe for next time.

Chinese family orders Chinese food for dinner. Film at 11.

Post dinner, we got a few rounds of cornhole in. This was shortly after my dad tossed down a bean bag from the balcony edge.

Action shot, Jahnu.

Action shot, dad.

Stacey and Liz, relaxing on the back deck and watching my dad, Shane, and Jahnu walk down to the water.

In the evening, we spent some time playing ping pong (another great feature of the place).

I had no idea about this, but my dad and mom are actually pretty good! Chinese people are good at ping pong – another film at 11, I guess.

The kicker for me was this: my parents got really animated when they saw the ping pong table. My mom watched my dad play, and she insisted on joining in, wanting to “see how good he is.”

Readers, before this moment – I had never heard my mom smack talk before. She would say small things like how there wasn’t enough room to play here. That things were too close, and to really be able to play you needed more space to run around.

She also said that she couldn’t play with the rest of us, because we kept lobbing the ball too high back and forth. She said she was used to the ball being much lower to the net. She mentioned this in a casual way, and I don’t think she quite got that she was trash talking the rest of us.

My dad also did his fair share of trash talking as well. This was something I had never really expected to see/hear, and it was amazing.

Throughout the rest of the weekend, whenever there was a lull… my mom and dad would go out to play. Sometimes with the kids, sometimes with one another. I could hear the tac-tac-tac of the ball, and usually a few moments later… a burst of laughter from my mother. It was pretty fantastic.