Host parents, this is a good time to make sure that the car your au pair drives is in good operating condition and up to date on routine maintenance.
See these previous posts on car related issues:
Monthly Archives: May 2011
Happy Mother's Day!
Wishing a Happy Mother’s Day to all the host moms in our cluster.
Happy Cinco de Mayo (May 5)
Cinco de mayo commemorates the May 5, 1862 Battle of Puebla (Batalla de Puebla) in which Mexican troops defeated Napoleon’s French forces. A common misconception is that this holiday is the Mexican equivalent to the U.S. 4th of July/Independence Day holiday. That is not the case. Cinco de mayo is not a major holiday in Mexico, it is actually celebrated more in the United States than in Mexico.
Search here for local celebrations in the entire DC area.
Many of these celebrations are at bars. If you are under 21, celebrate cinco de mayo by going to California Tortilla. If you tell them the secret words “cinco de mayo” you will receive a coupon for a free taco on your next visit.
Ingrid at the White House Easter Egg Roll
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.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
In the April kids activity kits, I included peat pots, potting soil and sunflower seeds. At the last coffee meeting, I received many reports of how well the sunflowers were growing and how excited the kids were to watch them grow. Tina was kind enough to send me some pictures she has taken to document the process of growing the sunflowers with her host child.
Have you ever heard the figure of speech “to have a green thumb?” It means to have the ability to grow plants well. I personally do not have a green thumb, but it looks like some of our au pairs and host children do.
As these sunflowers get bigger, it will be time to move them to a larger pot or outside. It would be great if some of these survived the summer and you were able to harvest some sunflower seeds in the fall. If your sunflowers make it through the summer, please send me a picture!