First Family Readies for Leap to DC

Barack Obama will arrive at the White House in January with the three women he has missed most during two years on the campaign trail: his wife and daughters. But while the president-elect prepares his transition, his family must navigate its own move from the cadre of family and friends in Hyde Park to the scrutiny of Pennsylvania Avenue, the New York Times reports. The upside? After two grueling years on the campaign trail, dad will be home for dinner.

Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, will be the youngest occupants of the White House since Amy Carter, and friends say Michelle is loath to uproot them. But even as the Obamas debate Sidwell Friends vs. public schools, friends aren't writing them off and predict a White House that hosts as many sleepovers as state dinners: “I’m not letting go of this family,” says one Chicago friend. The new first family might bring another piece of home—grandma Marian Robinson is expected to spend extensive time, if not outright live in the White House.