Michael and Camille Bennett Family: Stay-cation 2009

The Covey Family "Stay-cation"

My parents are seriously the best! They decided to host all of us kids, our spouces and children for a few days after Christmas so we could all get together and party! Instead of going somewhere far away, we all slept at their house and made it a "staycation" instead of a "vacation"! It was so much fun!

Here are the two who made it all happen! They are always so sweet and affectionate to each other. I love it. What a good example they are to their children and grandchildren.

For 2 days in a row we decided to go snowmobiling and it was AWESOME! The first day we left all the kids with a sitter, and on the second day we took Lance with us (he was such a trooper!).

Lance LOVES playing in the snow and when he spotted Michael's little shovel he simply picked it up, found a bunch of snow, and started shoveling... cute kid!

Michael and Kyle decided to build a snow-ramp and pull a each other on a sled behind the snowmobile with a rope and jump it! It was quite entertaining to watch!

We had 3 sets of snowshoes and had a fun time roaming through the trees and going on little hikes.

Camille and Collette

Camille and Katie

Michael, Camille, and Kyle

As soon as we got to our "camp" on the second day of snowmobiling I went right to work on the snowcave that I wanted to build Lance. I had never built a snowcave before, but had heard plenty of horror storries (thank you Michael and your crazy Scouting days) so I went to work to built a very small and safe cave for my boy (even Michael was impressed).

It turned out pretty well and Lance LOVED it! He said while crawling in it for the first time, "Mommy! It's just my size!"

Even Uncle Jacob liked it and used it to keep warm... while Uncle Kyle decided to see how much snow he could use to cover his entire legs while sitting in a camping chair (usually people do that in the summer with sand on a beach... but in the winter with snow on a mountian works too). =)

Michael was riding behind Uncle Johnny on a little, on-man, red sled, so I thought it would be a good idea to hop on (which is pretty out of character for me because I usually try to stay away from anything remotely dangerous)! So, while he was being pulled, I hopped on and we didn't even fall! Johnny took us back to "camp" whith snow flying in our faces the whole way, and we got these photos.

After a fun-filled day of snowmobiling (and eating sandwaches, chips, treats, and drinking hot chocolate) we all decieded to head back to Mom and Dad's warm house. We had 11 people, 2 coolers and plenty of gear... and only 3 snowmobiles. For this reason we had to get creative, and pretty adventerous, in order to get back to the cars!

Michael rode like a cowboy on the food and drink coolers with me pulling him with the snowmobile.

Katie, Jacob, and Lance rode on a sleigh that we borrowed from a total stranger (who saw that we had more people than room on the snowmobiles and offered to let us borrow it for the day) with Dad and Mom pulling them.

Lance was so exausted from a fun day in the snow that he fell into a deep sleep while sitting on Katie's lap. Katie was so nervous that he was not moving or waking up through all the uncomfortable bumps and jolts, that she started to panic and began checking his breathing and pluse (what a good Ocupational Therapist you'll make in a few months!). =) I am grateful for a sister who would actaully know what to do in a circumstance like that! =)