Moving to Washington DC - can anyone help? MrsApronstrings...?

[Twirl]

My DH has been offered a posting to Washington DC for 2-4 years and we are trying to decide what to do. We have 2 kids DD 2.6 and DS 4 months. Before we make a final decision we are trying to get as much info as possible about where we should live, how much it might cost, what life might be like for the kids, what the quality of life is like, availability of childcare etc. DH would be working in Washington DC centre but we would be looking to rent a family home somewhere in the suburbs (although never having been to Washington I haven't got a clue where...). If anyone can offer any advice please please please get back to me, we have to decide by Monday!!!

bump!

Hi Twirl, I posted when you were thinking about a move a month or two ago. This might be of use links here . Will DH's firm offer you a fact finding trip before yopu make up your minds? Does he have a colleagues who have been or are there now?
Sorry i'm not much help but will keep this bumped for you.

can i come with you?? my kids are no hassle honestly, and i'll babysit for you

Can't help with specifics, but my H & I moved to Connecticut almost 4 yrs ago and living in the US has been a great experience. Certainly not without difficulties - being foreign/ not a US citizen can be quite a pain but overall, it's been good. And DC is a good location - lots to see & do nearby, good transport, airport etc, a fab free zoo, all the Smithsonian Museums etc. Do look carefully before you rent somewhere though - the suburbs are probably fine but parts of DC have scary reputations (as do all cities). Hope someone more helpful comes along soon...

Friends of ours moved from the UK to Switzerland about 7 years ago, and around 4/5 years ago they went to Washington.

They seem to be loving it - we're in e-mail contact - and their girls have really settled down well.

I suspect the problem might be not wanting to come back.

Thanks so much for all your messages. Fox, that website was incredibly useful - you can usually tell the child frinedly areas by the abundance of playgroups etc...
MrsApronstrings if you are out there please reply as I really need your help....

You could CAT apronstrings

Hi twirl - just found this -I hope its not too late for you - what do you want to know - will hang around the board and keep checking back

Twirl if you've said yes I can certainly give you some advice on areas to live, what to expect etc...I don't think you would regret a decision to come here

Feel sad to have missed the thread - been 'flying' rather than chatting iyswim....
Really want to know what you decided now

Great to hear from you , thanks so much for getting back to me. Yes we are coming out to Washingon (it will be in January) and at the moment I am in desperate need of advice about:
(1) Where to live. DH will be at the Dept of Justice, and I believe this is downtown dc. He is happy to commute up to an hour. We want a toddler and baby friendly area, lots of families, toddler classes/activites (eg music, tumbletot type thing, storytelling), parks, playgrounds etc. I hate driving (tho I know this is unavoidable in the US but would love to live in an area where it is easy to walk to some places so I'm not constantly fighting to get 2 kids in the back of the car....
(2) What the pre-school options are. DD is 2.7 and was due to start pre-school in January (2/3 mornings a week). I would really like her to do something similar in the US. Do you have to put your name down years in advance for this sort of thing? Here in London everything seems to have at least a 1 year waiting list and I'm worried I may be too late to get her into pre-school over there even for a september start [panicked emoticon]. Bit freaked out at the thought of being a full time SAHM with no nursery at all[double panicked emoticon].
You will probably come to regret ever having found this thread but any advice would be more than welcome!

hi - i am just off to sort out the children for bed then I will give you a proper reply - 7.10 here - my dh is in England....
A future welcome to the states...I don't regret coming here at all..I don't want to stay for ever but there are some great things about it. Back soon...

ok

I wouldn't chose to live in DC -I have a few friends who do (but not with children).To be honset for that reason I have no idea what preschool provision is like - the schools have a bad reputation. Having said that there are definately walking communities etc. If you think DC might be an option I can ask about, check with my two friends who live there what they think (they are both american but one is married to a brit so shoul dbe able to give some insight.

We live in Maryland - Gaithersburg, basically the last stop on the metro (shady grove) - plenty of people commute from here to dc to work (including my neighbours on both sides,one by car,one by train) I think it is a 40 to 50 minute journey to the heart of dc - including 10 or so mins from our community to the metro. We picked this particular area really for the car thing. Our area is called the Kentlands and Lakelands and is a walking community. The houses are quite closely packed in (a good thing by american standards I think - unless you fancy a McMansion), there are pavements,schools,playgrounds, and a shopping area that has supermarkets, small shops, cinema etc.etc. The community was started about 10 years ago and has become quite a model for the area (Fallsgrove, King Farm are similar though not as successful imho). It is not a cheap place to live (propertywise)- but the pavements and the ability to walk sold me on the place and I found it hard to contemplate other areas when we were looking - it felt more English and less scary. The only thing I don't like about it is that it is a bit 'perfect' rather manicured, and very middle class - not much of a cross section of society - but in many ways a wonderfully safe and community minded place to bring up children.

Arlington in Virginia is a place that many young families also live, a bit more cosmopolitan and not quite so expensive - also good for a commute into dc.

Bethesda is great - but very expensive to live in I believe.

I can certainly find out more about both those areas from friends if you want me to.

I wouldn't worry too much about nursery - its more expensive than the Uk - but these areas tend to have quite a fluid population as professionals move etc. In this area at least you would probably be able to get a place in a preschool you were happy with - even it it wasn't your first choice in an ideal world

Thats more than enough for now i'm sure - happy for you to cat me - i am paid up! And am happy to help more/in any way i can.

Oh, congrats, Twirl.

Can't really help other than tell you that Columbia, Maryland was recently voted one of the best cities in the US to live in. My friend just moved from there and can't say enough wonderful things about it. Not sure how far from DC it is though and obviously MrsApronStrings has all the inside info.

Just wanted to congratulate you though. Very exciting!

twirl, i am soo excited for you, wishing you all the best

Thanks so much for all your messages of support. Mamaapronstrings your info is fantastic and where you live sounds lovely. Can you walk to Shady Grove metro from your area or do you have to drive (don't really want 2 cars...). Did you look at Bethesda at all? Did you consider Old Town, Alexandria, this has been recommended to me too. Gosh my head is thumping just thinking about the move, let alone trying to research areas from London! My DH will be coming over for 5 days soon to check out areas and find a house but it isn't really viable for me to come with a 2 year old and 4 month old as I don't think we'd get much done. Feel a bit scared that DH is going to make this decision on his own tho....

My Dad lives in Vienna which is a suburb of DC. I haven't been there but his wife works in the Pentagon, so maybe somewhere near to where your DH will work? Sorry, completely ignorant just going by what I know. I know a lot of her colleagues live in the same area and have young children. They have a DS who is 2.10. He goes to a childminder & a nursery. I think they sorted out childcare pretty quickly. They e-mail pictures of their house & the area & it seems like there are lots of kiddies places around. Also quite expensive though, if what my father says is true ...

You can't walk to the metro from my area - although you can from King Farm - a similar type of community. We didn't look at Bethesda as a place to live - my dh works in Rockville (one stop nearer DC on the metro) so it would have been a much longer commute for him and is more expensive to buy property.(we sold up in the uk and bought out here as we didn't know how long we would be here.)

My brother used to live in Alexandria - and I think its really nice (although i do remember him saying DON'T turn left out of the metro which I don't deal with very well!!! I can ask him too if you really want to consider it.

We came out together for 5 days before we moved to take a look etc. we bought 15 month ds with us and left the older ones with grandparents. If you use a realtor they will be really helpful - very very diff to uk they will collect you, drive you round etc. etc. I can let you have the number of the guy we used - or ask around for a reccommendation for other areas if you want.

Cheers MamaApronstrings. I am just sorting out my CAT subscription now and will email you when it is sorted. Thanks so much for your offer to help!

Twirl - this is so so weird. My DH is in the process of maybe being offered a 2-3 year posting in DC too - well, Virginia just over the river. If we go it'd be 2nd quarter next year. We've got a nearly 4 year old DD and a 12 week old DD.

We've got all the same questions you have! He's been told that Alexandria, Claremont, Arlington etc are all nice places to live. I had visions of desperate housewives style house but think it'll be a shoe box apartment as everything looks so expensive and we don't know what his allowance would be.

So how far have you got with finding a place to live, schools etc etc? DH has been over there once but me not at all so I feel completely blind. We were told the best thing for us would be to move into a short term let for a month or so and then do a proper search. But hate the idea of moving so many times.

MamaApronstrings - if our move gets off the ground could I call on your advice too??

Feel a bit better about all this knowing there could be other mn-ers in the area

mamaapronstrings - my best friend lives in Ellicott City - is that near you?

Wishingchair - fantastic news, I don't feel so alone now! We can go through the process together so lets keep in touch via this thread! I'm having a nightmare evening with children so will be back online tomorrow and will tell you what I have found out so far...

bump for you

(Thanks Otter)

just looked up Ellicot City - looks nice, Howard county is further out than we are.

Wishing chair, more than happy to help in any way I can. I have a friend in Arlington, it doesn't seem at all desperate housewivesish, and from what i understand is quite reasonably priced. It is not 'cookie cutter' america for the most part I don't think.

Twirl did you ever cat me because i did't get anything? Are yuo excited - or just terrified!!!!

Getting quite excited about this now - wish they'd tell us yes or no. Mamaapronstrings - it does worry me a bit the whole 'perfect manicured lawns, gifted and talented concert pianist children, impeccable houses, perfect hair and teeth' side to the US. I mean, I'm not a slut around the house but my no means am I perfect. Will I get shunned by the neighbours??!!

Twirl - look forward to your update!!! At least our children are hopefully young enough to see this as an adventure. My brother in law moved his 15 and 17 year old children to switzerland and that was awful - but even they settled really quickly once there. So much to think about ...

Wishingchair you've been to the lakelands!!!!

seriously though, we really live in that type of area, but there are many many normal people, with houses far worse than mine who have become our friends.

Nearly everyone is too pushy with thier children for our taste (you may have seen me mention this on other threads) but we just don't buy into it - our school age children are doing really well in school here. my eldest has sn and gets really good help.

If you come here just take the phrase 'of course XXXX is a straight A student " with a pinch of salt!