The Zirks go to Lake Michigan

This last weekend we decided to take a trip to the west side of the state. We have friends who just recently moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, which is right on Lake Michigan. So we spent some of our time catching up and laughing with our friends, and we spent some of it just driving up the coast and visiting places we loved before we had Ava to share the experience with. So we visited South Haven, which is just about 20 minutes north of where we were staying. Christopher and I went there to celebrate our 2nd anniversary, and had such a great time--we knew we would be making a return visit. We sat on towels in the channel which leads out to the lake and watched boats going out to sea and coming back. Finally, before we left, we walked out to the end of the pier and saw the South Haven Lighthouse. It is always very calming to go and sit at the end of the pier and just look out into the horizon. Ava was zonked out at that point, but rest assured, she had a good time prior to that!















We then continued up the coast to Holland, and had a picnic lunch with my parents (the Goedge's). They can't get enough of Ava, and always make jokes about taking her home and letting her do what she wants for a night. I always tell them that part of the deal is listening to her cry in her carseat for the 1.5 hours it takes to get home--somehow I don't think they'd mind! We had a good time with them grilling hotdogs and eating dinner at Kollen Park in Holland, on Lake Macatawa.

On our way home, I couldn't help myself as I kept seeing the sun drop further and further down in the sky. I am a sucker for sunsets, and I knew that night was going to be a good one. We stopped just outside of St. Joseph at Rocky Gap Park and watched the sun set over Lake Michigan. It was beautiful. I took Ava down to the water, and she seemed to like it. Man, did it feel good to dip my feet into Lake Michigan--the water was actually fairly warm. Unfortunately, I was getting attacked left and right by massive deerflies, so we watched the rest of the sunset from the inside of the car!