My 8 year old is really keen to move to Alberta.
He wants to:
Join a soccer team (loves footy and plays 3 times a week)
learn to skate and join a hockey team
buy a horse
watch the Calgary Flames
go to the stampede
go skiing and boarding

Do fun stuff with new mates
For christmas he wanted the xbox game NHL !!

Glad he is keen on moving.

I'm a LOT older and I cant wait to move to Alberta
I wont be joining the soccer team
I want to learn to skate (but dont think I'll make the hockey team)
I 'll ride his horse for him!!
I cant wait to watch the flames, the hitmen, the roughnecks AND the stampeders
I cant wait for my first stampede breakfast
I HOPE to be skiing and\or boarding most weekends of the season

(actually maybe I am only 8)

Butch

I have two boys also REALLY keen after visiting relations in Nova Scotia however having just seen the wait of 39 months being quoted am wondering if this is just a dream that will never happen......
They are 9 & 6 and I had hoped to get there before they hit the "hard" teenage years when its harder to adjust - fingers crossed.

Well you've picked one of the top 4 provinces for soccer so that's a start.

Which City are you looking and and the which area of that, start looking at the soccer clubs etc and it can help settle an area down. If he can get to be on a team and going to school with the same kids it really helps.

start here - http://www.albertasoccer.com/ -

We've found having the children really helps YOU settle too. Canadians seem very friendly and we are really lucky to live in a particularly friendly Cul-De-Sac where 5 of the neighbours came over and helped us move into our house, unloading boxes from the van. My son started kindergarten in Sept, the same time as all the other new kids, so never felt like the outsider, and all the Mums were 'NEW' at the same time too. We now go out socialising in the evenings too, about once every 2 months, which is great.
My 5 year old is loving ice skating and we've done toboganning aswell (when we had snow that is ) Going to leave his first go at skiing until next winter I think.
For a child your childs age, the opportunities are endless. Here in Sherwood Park there are tons of recreational activities on offer. Kids would never be bored, (you might be skint though !)
You see loads of people rollerblading..........and not just the kids. Adults pushing buggy's on blades, Mums blading alongside the kids.
I take it you are looking at Calgary .I hope you love the reality as much as the vision !

We are hoping to move to Cochrane and they have a kids soccer team called Cochrane Rangers.

We have been researching Cochrane too. Our youngest child is 9 and he can't wait to move. He wants to ride a snowmobile and get a dog! He also wants to learn to skate and play hockey. However, our 17 year old daughter "hates the cold" and is sure Calgary is a "one horse town where everyone wears stetsons and checked shirts". The eldest (19 year old son) wants to move now because he could drop out of the university course he started in September!!

Is there any hope?!!!

Can anyone tell me which areas are good for families and commutable from Calgary? I'm assuming that this will be our best chance of employment.

Rachel

Soccer is huge here in Calgary and the surrounding areas.

The two largest indoor soccer domes in North America are in Calgary. One is just down the road from Cochrane in Bearspaw.

Owen Hargreaves, who plays for Bayern Munich and is likely for England in the World Cup this year, grew up in Calgary.

He is the son of ex-pats from Lancs.

Can you imagine the son/daughter of a Canadian ex-pat growing up in the UK learning ice hockey and playing in the NHL and getting in the Canadian team?

Not a chance

The funny thing was he was turned down for the Canadian team ?

Some of the coaches are more intent on their profile rather than kids development. so always be ready to change if needed.

When we were just about to move, my 7 year old son went to school and told everyone he had learnt 'Canadian'!! This really impressed both the girls and his teacher. Had he learnt French???


No he said fries instead of Chips. He was keen to make a head start before he got here

If you wondering what soccer in winter in Canada is like here's click of a typical rec game http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...icking for FUN