Dear Au Pair, We are so excited about the thought of you joining our family. Our oldest daughter Cadence cannot wait to have a `big sister’ type friend to hangout with. We have 3 children: Isabella, age 7, Caleb, age 2 and Aden, age 3 month.
We live in a suburb called Ashburn. It is right near Washington Dulles International Airport and is approximately 45 minutes from Washington, DC. We also have a vacation home on the western side of the state of New York. It is a cedar cabin with a loft that is on many many acres. We find it fun to go up there on school holidays and summer vacations to relax and have open space around us. You will of course be welcome to either join us on t1hese vacations or stay in Virginia, which ever you feel more comfortable doing at the time.
Our home in Virginia has an in ground swimming pool so of course our biggest hobby is swimming. Because of this we hope that you are a good swimmer, as we need to ensure the safety of the children when they are in the pool with you. We also enjoy going to sporting events (hockey and football) and doing as many things with our children as we can find time to do. You may also enjoy getting to know our Nations Capital. There are many wonderful things to do and see here.
The Smithsonian Museum actually consists of many different buildings, all of which are free to the public. It can take days to see it all. You can drive about 30 minutes from our house and get to the Metro (the underground subway) which will take you into Washington DC (everyone just calls it DC) so that you do not have to drive in traffic. This is what most people do. We will of course show you around and enjoy doing a lot of this with you as well.
Ashburn, VA is a very diverse area of the country. You will find many other cultures here as well as many local Au Pairs. I believe there are 4-6 Au Pairs in our subdivision at the moment and probably a couple hundred in the surrounding areas between all of the different agencies that place here. Hopefully this will help you to feel more at home and be able to reach out to others, in similar situations.
Our home is approximately 5200 square feet on 3 finished levels. Upstairs we have 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The main floor has a playroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, breakfast room, office, foyer, living room and a half bathroom. The basement has a large entertainment room with a bar, pool table, dart board, poker table, etc. Although we do not really have as much time to use it as we would like. In addition to this large room is a smaller work out room with a treadmill, weight machine, elliptical machine, exercise bike and free weights. We also have a dry sauna room that is the size for only 2 people. There is a full bath down here. We plan to make a large bedroom/sitting room for you down here. Although the room does not have a window, we are putting in many recessed lights and the room will be large enough so that you will have your own closet as well as a bed, dresser, nightstand, desk, couch, coffee table, television and a countertop area for any other items you may want to add. We are hoping that once the room is completed you will love it due to its size and privacy. You will also have exclusive use of the full bathroom, which is right next to it.
We do not really have any specific household rules except that we do not want anyone who smokes. We do not smoke and do not like our children around it.
The Daily routine is really very flexible. We get the kids up and Isabella off to the school bus. Then it is just a matter of entertaining and feeding Caleb and Aden until Isabella gets off the bus at 3pm. There may be a little of running Isabella around as that is what I have the hardest time doing. She really wants to take Gymnastics and/or Cheerleading but because of my work schedule I have not been able to take her so she is hoping that you will drive her to/from these activities once or twice a week. She also really likes to ice skate but you can walk to the ice skating rink from our house.
We basically just want you to come and love our children. As we both work full time, we want you to just be there for them and bond with them so that they love you like a family member. We will open our hearts to you and hope that you will do the same. I am so sure this will be just a wonderful experience as we are just so excited to have you come and we hope you feel the same!!!