Merry Christmas

This week I seem to have forgotten to pick up my camera.  It's a great relaxing life here and the weather is finally turning around.  That being said, it's raining right now, but suppose to subside and be in the 70's later today.  I can't complain as those cold Michigan winters are still clear in my memory.

 A wide array of birds swarm our boat every day leaving us uninvited presents. 

 Christmas shopping was high on our list this week.  Since we don't have a lot of room for storage, we waited awhile, but were able to catch a ride with the dockmasters courtesy van.

 The kids hadn't been inside a mall in 5 months. When we walked through the door they all slowed down and looked around soaking it in.  A visit with Elmo will make anyone laugh!

Paul and Alice Morrissey came for a visit from Leesburg, Florida (about two hours away).  They were a big part of my life growing up and it was fun to eat lunch with them and sit poolside catching up on life.  During the warmer months they are neighbors to my parents and last summer we house sat for them. 

 The first day (in the two weeks that we've been here) the kids were able to swim in the pool.  It's Olympic sized and heated and the sun was shining bright all day!  Pictured here is Nicklaus teaching Morgan all of his crazy jumps.  He even had names for them all. 

 Ryann is determined to catch as many salamanders as possible.

 Leave it to Ryann to sit poolside with her friends and enjoy and fruitfilled refreshing drink from the bar.  She smiled her way into a few snacks as well. 

 Pete and Anna sent us a delicious package of chocolates from Nantucket Chocolatier for Christmas.  They make their own chocolate and candies and ship them around the world.  Anna was the manager there for many years.  We all felt like it was Christmas day...so nice of them to think of us! 

We also had a great visit with my Grandpa Wes and Grandma Toni.  They live in Sun City Center, which is about 40 minutes away (for the winter months).  They stayed all afternoon and ate aboard the boat.  We really enjoyed their visit. 

The Parrent family

The BEST Christmas gift ever:
Many of you know that my (Danielle's) family members have been going through Genetic Counseling these past few months. The Breast Cancer gene, "BRCA2" has tested positive in my aunts and cousins.  My mom, Yvonne (the eldest of 6 children) underwent the testing to determine the fate of herself, daughters (my sister and I) and her granddaughters.  If testing positive, our normal chances of getting breast cancer of 7% (like the regular population), would increase to 50-85%.  The blood work came back this week and we are among the fortunate minority of the family that does not have this horrible gene.  Thank you mom for doing the testing and giving me the best Christmas gift of a lifetime!