Washington movers

[whimsicalname]

There's a few of us moving to DC this summer / autumn (or should I call it fall now?), so I thought if I set up a new thread we could chat here. And if anyone's in DC already, we'd love to hear from you.

I'm moving to the Virginia suburbs in August with 8, 6 and 2yo boys. God help me.

Hi all,
Just back from hols and catching up on the thread. Ivesuffered, we arent having much luck finding a house with our realtor - funnily enough Craigslist seems to have more stock. Not sure why that is.

Whims - hope you are settling in well.

Look forward to meeting up once we get there.

Hello all
After a very pleasant week in a hotel, we're now in our house. Hotel was the Dupont Circle at (you guessed it) Dupont Circle. Very smart, but very accomodating for our boys. I'd recommend! Now in our house without any stuff which is both a relief and a trial.

Moknicker this seems like a lovely neighbourhood (Pimmit Hills), not far from Tysons, 30 min out of DC. I know this is around where you're thinking, and I don't really know where Falls Church and Maclean start and finish, but it seems fine.

I've i'm going to pm you now.

Hi All,

DP and i have been veering between moving to Canada, jobless and starting again, and moving to DC with DP's company, who have a head office out there and are desperate for him to go over.

Anyway, we have decided to take the plunge with DC. So our visa's should be thru in Nov. We will be moving around (prob just after) xmas.

We are looking at living in Reston (no idea on areas - never been there). I'm going to have a look at expat sites as well, but thought i'd say hello to you all.

Oh and i am due our 1st baby on Weds. So we will be packing and moving with a 5mo - oh dear! :)

Just back in London from a weekend trip. We have finally put in an offer on a house in Alexandria Old Town - hopefully that will work out. Back in DC end of this month. Frantically calling up preschools in Alexandria but resigned to the fact that it is going to be difficult for DD to get a place anywhere decent.

How are the rest of you settling in. Is it all going smoothly? Are people friendly, have you met loads of other mums?

Wanted to ask a question regarding car seats. Did you take your UK car seats with you or is it better to get US ones.

It all feels real now and already mentally checking out of London.

Spuddybean welcome to the group and good luck with the delivery!

Hi moknicker exciting about the house. You seem to be doing lots of prep! We bought new booster seats out here, but brought the toddler seat with us. We;ll get a new baby seat when the time comes.

Welcome spuddy. We just moved to Falls Church which is near to Reston. In fact we went to a great kids water park there the other day. I didn't see any of the actual town though. I don't think I can offer any advice other than see if it's near a metro station so you can get into DC easily. It all seems very suburban. I have yet to decide if that's a good or bad thing.

School starts on Tues which I have mixed feelings about.

don't worry about moving with a baby. They're very portable! We've moved with 3 boys and I'm pregnant. The only real concern I have is about the very medicalised maternity set up over here.

Welcome to anyone I haven't said hi to yet!
Spuddy, just PMed you but didn't realise you were pregnant. Has baby Spuddy arrived yet?
Mo - we brought our carseat with us (DD was 9 months when we arrived) but will need to buy the next stage here. Lots of familiar brands and cheaper than the UK too eg in Target (big supermarket). We found Craigslist had a really quick turnover and it took us three weeks to find somewhere to live. We had to submit applications to rent and then maybe we'd be accepted, maybe not. Very odd. If you're going to go down this route, have employment contract and passport copies etc at the ready so you can apply ASAP places come on the market.
I don't know much about the areas around DC as we live in Georgetown, so very central. There are lots more baby and child activities further out. Alexandria is lovely, caught the ferry there down the river on Saturday and a friend from uni lives just nearby and loves it. It's got a nice small town feel about it and seems to be where DC people move to when they have families.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions xx

Hello all - sorry I completely missed this. I moved from Andover in the UK to NOVA - Northern Virginia - just under 3 years ago for my job. I have a DH, a 7 year old Ds and a very large dog. I am happy to help with advice and ideas.

We first lived in Shirlington in corporate housing and then in a rental place in Reston. Then we bought a house in Potomac Falls last year and we love it. We are in a fantastic community with great neighbors. I prefer Loudoun county for the schools - happy to explain the differences if it helps anybody.

Ds started back in 2nd grade last week and is very happy - he has a fabulous teacher.

I am just sad that summer is nearly over, but am looking forward to the fall - there are so many fun things to do. Anyway, let me know if there is anything I can help with.

ZamMummy - so jealous that you spent time in Gabs - one of my favorite places on earth. DH and I had a very memorable 3 week trip round Botswana a few years ago, after he spent some time working there with the Botswana Defense Force.

Spuddy - I can help with advice on Reston Vs Sterling, for example. We loved Reston, but it is a little more of a travel to work community. I actually prefer Sterling, which is where we live now, but both are great - lots of green spaces, lots of places to walk etc...

A new colleague who has just moved here with his wife and 3 kids from Preston actually chose Ashburn, which is even more family oriented, a much newer community, but very nice.

Thanks WN and Ive - think we will get our car seats across just to save the hassle of getting new ones. Looks like we are getting the place in Alexandria to rent so that is good.

One more question for all of you - any recommendation on a firm who can do US/UK tax returns for us without breaking the bank? called up one firm in London who are prohibitively expensive.

Worryingly, DD is down with chicken pox and it looks like DS will get it just as we are about to fly out ...........

Hi Mo, we have a UK accountant doing the UK side of things and then will get a US accountant to do tax returns etc. here. We are classed as none resident landlords for UK tax purposes though as we rented out our UK place so don't know if that makes a difference? Everyone here seems to have an accountant though!
Hope the chicken pox isn't too bad. They vaccinate for it here but I'd rather DD got it as the vaccine only lasts ten years, ridiculous! X