Au Pair Chatter

From the Newseum website:

July 1 through Sept. 5, 2011, youth visitors 18 and under get free admission to the Newseum with one paid adult admission. Offer is limited to up to 10 kids. This promotion is not valid in combination with other discounts. Summer Fun Deal tickets, like all Newseum tickets, are valid for two consecutive days.

Ranked by TripAdvisor as the No. 1 attraction in the nation’s capital, the Newseum has something for everyone.

The Newseum offers a wonderful experience for everyone in the family. From the Pulitzer Prize Photographs gallery, Elvis, the 4-D theater to the Newseum’s interactive exhibits. There is a lot to explore and a lot to learn at every age level.

One of our au pairs (Ingrid from Germany) was lucky enough to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll with her host family.  I asked her to share some photos and her impressions about the experience.

Here is what Ingrid had to say about it:

First of all, I was so glad that my host mom took me!!! We had tickets for the first group on that day and had to be there at 7:30a.m. Consequently, Monday morning we had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to wake the kids, and to get ready. Everybody was really excited to go in the garden of the White House. After almost two hours, we finally arrived in the garden.

There they had a lot of different activities for children like Easter egg hunt, egg roll, story time stage, face painting and other pretty cool stuff. So, first Sophie, my host child, went to the egg roll; she did a really good job.

While we were there we saw funny characters from TV shows, and I was surprised how Sophie reacted, when she saw them. She gave almost every character a huge hug and I took a lot of pictures of it.  We saw Elmo from the Sesame Street, and danced to his song. That was really funny and I had Sophie on my shoulders, so she could see. After a while we went closer to the White House, hoping see the President Barack Obama. But he wasn’t there, which was really disappointing.  However, when we left the garden we got a special wood Easter egg with the signature of Barack and Michelle Obama.

Caught a glimpse of the Obama Family dog, Bo.

The Au Pair in America 25th Anniversary Cultural Fair was held at the Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park on April 9, 2011. At the cultural fair, I recorded clips of au pairs sharing greetings in their native languages. Here is that video.

My apologies to the ladies from Colombia, whom somehow I missed recording. Colombia was there and represented very well by Carolina & Alexandra from our cluster as well as several other au pairs.

Twenty four au pairs from our cluster participated in the DC Metro Area Au Pair in America 25th Anniversary Cultural Fair. I am in the process of gathering photos and videos that  were taken at the fair and I will post them soon.

Here is a nice photo of Mayela and her friends from Costa Rica

We went to the Ringling Brother’s Barnum & Bailey Circus at the Verizon Center on Sunday. I got a few pictures, unfortunately I didn’t get pictures of everyone who was there. If you have any nice ones to share, please send them to me.

March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – St. Patrick is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland.  St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in the US since 1737.  Traditional icons of the day are the shamrock, leprechaun, the color green and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In Chicago, the city celebrates with a parade and the Chicago River is dyed green!

Here is a St. Patrick’s Day Event in our area:

Washington, DC St. Patrick’s Day Parade – Sun, March 13

Photo by Uwe Hermann

There are so many great events and things to see and do in the DC Metro area.  You can spend a lot of money experiencing it, unless you look for deals.  I have three websites that I am subscribed to that send local offers (for the areas of your choice) on a regular basis.

How does it work? All three of these websites allow you to register for free to receive emails with offers in the area(s) of your choice. Groupon and Living Social are daily and Goldstar has a variety of options. I am subscribed for a weekly Goldstar email. If you see an offer you like in the email, you go to their website and buy it. Read the restrictions carefully to make sure of important details such as: at which locations can it be used, the expiration date and special restrictions.

I am signed up for Washington, DC and Baltimore area deals on all of these sites. If I am planning a trip to an area in the future, I sign up for that area as well to look for deals on things I can do on my trip.

Groupon – Click HERE to register.
My fave deals – I bought a Segway Tour of Annapolis for $25 (regular price $50.)  I am planning to use this in the spring. I have gotten lots of other deals for things like salon services, Redbox rentals, places to take the kids and restaurants.

Living Social – Click HERE to register.
My fave deals -  I bought a $20 Amazon gift card for $10. I just got a great deal on movie tickets.

Goldstar – Click HERE to register.
My fave deal – On Goldstar, they have tickets for the Twilight Convention coming to VA in April for $10 (regular price $20) that are tempting me.  They have tickets to all kinds of events, including: theater, kid’s events, sports and more.

The National Park Service has compiled a helpful list of the major DC attractions such as museums and monuments and government buildings that offer tours. It includes: days and hours they are open, phone numbers and whether there are fees.  

NPS DC Area Attractions List

This year instead of snow, we had rain on our White House tour day.  But, it was still a great day to get a peak inside this fantastic building. In addition to the usual sights, we were able to see one of the rooms set up for a Super Bowl Party. I thought the choice of colors (a lot of pink) seemed a bit off for the Super Bowl. Maybe they just wanted to be careful not to take sides.

Since no photos are allowed inside, here are a few nice ones from outside. Not everyone from our group is pictured. This is as many as I could gather together for a group photo, standing in the cold and rain waiting outside. Special thanks to the office of Senator Ben Cardin, for assisting with our tour request and to my son, RJ for photography assistance.

Click on any of the pictures, to see it full size in our Cluster Photobucket Album.

Click here to visit the website

This sounds like a great event taking place on Saturday, October 16, 10 am-3pm at the National Geographic Museum.  The cost is FREE.