Happy Birthday, Mr. President...

A birthday?  Does that mean there's cake?

For many people, President's Day just means another random day off from work (or at least a day when the bank is closed).  To many, it's that murky holiday that follows MLK on the calendar.  To our family, however, President's Day means a great deal more.  To us, it guarantees a weekend full of amazing talks, delicious food, and tender moments among friends who feel more like family at this point.  To us, it means time with the President's Day Weekend Crew (PDWC).

Anne holding the newest member of the PDWC, Reese Zalubowski

Handsome Bruskin men: Eric and Sawyer

Henry and his beauteous mama, Sarah

Lovely Miss Amelia

And to think, it all started in 2006 when 6 grad school friends decided to take a weekend trip together with our husbands. 

Horizontal stripes on a 7-month preggo woman -- not a good choice.

Since that time, our friendships have grown...and so have our families.  Our President's Day Weekend Crew is now 23 people strong (12 adults, 11 kids) and counting (#24, of course, is currently being incubated by yours truly).  Check out the latest roundup of our ever-growing bunch of offspring.

Fionn is so over it.  "This again, people?  Really?"

For this year's retreat, we headed back to Lake Anna, VA where we went last year for PDW 2012.  The house is enormous and situated right on a beautiful lake.  There is a little playground and a play room indoors with air hockey and Pac-Man (that's right, old school Atari).  Pretty ideal for our active little group.

Jay Miller, hamming it up

Adorable Campbell, setting up shop in one of the play houses outside

Conor stayed behind in DC so that he could spend some QT with his best bud, Lewis, who was visiting from China for the weekend.  As a result, Fionny and I flew solo for the majority of the trip until Conor could join us on Sunday afternoon.  Luckily, there were plenty of other dudes around to provide Fionn with that healthy dose of testosterone in Conor's absence.

Strumming the guitar with Uncle Bruce

Frontal view of Fionny while he was strumming the guitar -- how he loved it!

Watching the game with Uncle Danny and Uncle Joe

By the way, you might notice that Fionn is wearing a t-shirt and nothing else in the above picture.  Yep, that was pretty much how you would find him the entire weekend at Lake Anna.  Check it.

Look, I got to use the cool blurry feature on i-Photo!  Gotta preserve my boy's privacy...hehe.

So I guess I should explain.  We do not actually have a budding nudist in our ranks but rather a two-year-old in the throes of potty training.  Fionny is actually doing great with the potty these days.  He has a nearly 100% rate when he is awake.  But here's the thing.  He has to be naked from the waist down.  Once we put on underpants or a Pull-Up, it's all over.  Might as well throw in the towel, er, diaper.  We've reached a stalemate, folks.  Not sure how to proceed from here.  Obviously, our kid can't go pants-less forever, so a solution must be found.  But thus far...I got nuthin'.  We'll keep you posted.

Anyway, back to the weekend.  It was just as wonderful as always.  The best part is seeing the kids interact more and more every year as they grow up.  Fionn, for his part, scored a co-ed bath with his lady love, Campbell.  Impressive skills, right? 

Watching the two kiddos playing in the water together was one of my weekend highlights for sure.   Oh, how they giggled and splashed!  Campbell even washed Fionn's back at one point.  It was just too cute.

Speaking of cute, check out Miss Amelia Lovelace with her brand-new gap.

We seem to have a tradition of kids losing teeth while at PDW.  Miss Caroline Miller started the trend by losing her very first tooth 2 years ago.  And now Amelia follows in her footsteps.  It is so special to be part of these milestones with the PDW kids.

And in another wonderful PDW tradition...

Look closely, and you might see some hints about Little Brother's name...

That's right.  Painted onesies for the baby-to-be which in this case is our very own Little Brother.  You might remember that Fionn has his own set of special onesies, courtesy of the PDWC.  However, upon sorting through his old clothes recently in preparation for Little Brother, I can assure you that they all fell victim to terrible spit-up stains (darn acid reflux!).  As a result, we are super-excited for Little Brother to have his own fresh collection.  Thanks so much, my wonderful friends!

I will sign off here, but I promise to be back soon.  We are continuing our February of travel with a long weekend in Colorado starting on Thursday morning.  Another big bunch of friends.  More good times and wonderful memories.  Until next time...