leepee

Me again....
Just saw that you were wondering about how to break the news of your move...I didn't have that issue as we moved here with a 21/2 year old and an 11 week old - plus their grandparents are here so all was fine. I was just thinking about your dilemma though and I would try to turn it all into a big adventure. I am pretty sure at that age that they will just follow your lead - ie if you are worried and anxious telling them they will probably be worried and anxious! Find some library books full of pictures of cute (yeah right!!) Grizzly Bears and Polar bears....Start looking wistful when talking about wide open spaces and camping!!!! That kind of thing....

I would also try to start thinking about where you would like to live - what you are looking for in a neighbourhood etc. If you can possibly get settled into a house before school restarts then they might have a chance to meet some friends before they start. Overall though I really wouldn't worry too much, kids have an amazing capacity for change! We have some neighbours who moved up from the States with their three kids a couple of years ago. The kids had friends by the end of the first week.....It will all be fine!!

Lisa

Green Toadster

Thanks for the ideas on breaking the news Lisa will have a wee look for good books!

Re which neighbourhood, I really have no idea where to start tbh! Going to look at Cochrane as I have read good things about it but I have not even been able to narrow down to which quadrant to even start looking at! The plan is to rent a serviced apartment for 4 weeks when we arrive and then find a more permanent house. We are out for a visit on the 6th march for 5 days so planning to speak to a Realtor before we get there to allow us to drive around a few possible areas!

Green Toadster

Hi Ann, thanks for this bit of advice, it really has helped put my mind at ease as you are absolutely right!

gibsonslanding

www.robynmoser.com

excellent realtor; she's a good friend and a really good pro-active realtor who will work with you all the way....

kazmart

Hi!
We arrived in Calgary last weekend after 5 months in BC. We live in a great little apartment off of 17th Ave for now while we look for a house - we are heading to Airdrie to check it out with a view to settling there. We found our place on kijiji, where there seemed to be lots of rental properties all over the city for varying prices per month.
On the subject of books - great idea. We were given a few books by a great illustrator and writer called Per-Henrick Gurth which are really informative about Canada and are perfect for kids. The ones we have are called Oh Canada, ABC of Canada and one the title of which escapes me!! My kids love them and they are available on Amazon.co.uk.
Hope it goes OK for you - I'm happy to PM if you want more info (once i have found it out!!) or to meet up? BTW - it has to be warmer in March doesn't it? It was -20 today!!! Brrrrrr!
Good luck!

Green Toadster

Thanks Kazmart! Apologies I thought I had responded to you! Thanks for the tips, we managed to get he ABC of Canada and Oh Canada books on amazon for the kids, they are loving them already!

Green Toadster

Hi all,

Looking for some advice/reassurance re the weather over there at the moment. My husband and I will be travelling over with 3 kids (7, 5 and 4 months) and were working on the assumption that their winter clothes for here would be adequate for Calgary in March. We realise that it is highly changeable, but had heard that it was normally milder in March than it is at the moment!.

I am planning on packing lots of layers and we have invested in some North Face fleeces and jackets (for both ourselves and the kids). The girls have leather boots and I was hoping that these would be ok with thick socks and tights underneath. I am toying with the idea of buying thermal base wear for underneath their clothes but I am not sure if this will be overkill! Bearing in mind that we will have a hire car for our full stay.

For example, would this be adequate for them: jeans/cords with tights underneath, extra socks, leather boots and northface fleece and jacket, scarf, hat that covers ears and fleece lined gloves.

I'm not too worried about our baby 4months, as he has a snow suit/hat, fleece blanket, fleece cosytoes (in pram) and raincover that will act as insulation if it is really cold.

Any help/tips would be much appreciated!

Bucks_Family

We're in Airdrie, just north of Calgary, and the government have been issuing official Wind Chill warnings this weekend. Calgary Olympic Park has been closed because of low temperatures. It's currently (5pm Sunday) -21 deg C before we take the wind chill into effect.
Overnight last night the temp with wind chill dropped to -40 C here, not that you're going to be out and about at 3am, I hope!
The forecast for this coming week has high temperatures between -7 and +5 deg C, so for those temps what you are bringing will be fine, but I'd pack some chunky jumpers for under the fleece and jackets, unless those jackets have a good down fill.
Off to walk the dogs now - I'll be wrapping up in many layers.

Siouxie

Better to be too warm and take layers off than too cold.

Jeans are not that warm (in my experience) if it's really cold because they still let cold air through them. With + temperatures forecast you should be ok though, provided the temperature doesn't drop too much.

I would definitely get some kind of snow boots for the girls if you can get some cheaply, leather boots won't be that warm nor waterproof (and will have little traction) and they are bound to want to play in the snow - you will need to walk around at some point as well.

You can always buy some clothes here if you don't find they are warm enough - Old Navy, Walmart, Target will all have cheapish clothes.

Green Toadster

Thanks Bucks Family and Siouxie!

We have taken your advice and invested in some snow pants and snowboots for the girls. North Face have a sale over here at the moment so managed to get them at a good price. We also bought some thermal base clothing for all of us just to give us an added layer from the cold.

Looking forward to exploring Calgary!
(although not relishing the thought of the flights with 3 kids via Heathrow...)

stuabroad

Congrats on making the move. Couple of points to throw in here.

Personally i'd have bought your clothes here, cheaper all round than UK and less to cart around LHR.

I'm in my late thirties now and came to Canada nearly 6 years ago...but as a little kid i lived in Ottawa for four years as my father had a job there. I returned to Scotland aged 8...and i spent the next 15 years trying to figure out how to get back here Believe me that this is the coolest thing that you can do for your children: even though they won't realize it now you're opening up a whole new world to them. Everything is an adventure at that age anyway so i'd be more concerned about the adults than the kids fitting in. My wife teaches Grade 5 French Immersion...every school board is different in how they operate things, so take everything you see and hear with a pinch of salt until you speak with someone directly in the area you have chosen to live.

Get yourselves out to Banff as soon as you arrive, it's only an hour or so West of Calgary. Calgary is just the same as any other city in the world. In the winter it's dirty and grey...but all Canadians come out of Hibernation sometime around the end of March. (If you come out of hibernation too soon, you might find it's -50c with windchill, as it was this last weekend). After that, as someone else said, the place sparkles into life. Living in Edmonton, but travelling frequently to Calgary, I have found that Calgary sees Spring around 3 weeks earlier than Edmonton. The warmer winds that come out of the South every so often helps to thaw the brown stuff on the side of the road that used to be called snow.

I'd rent if i were you for the first 6 months, doesn't matter what you read here, you need to go make your own opinions. You get alot more for your money here, but alot of the newer houses are IKEA style and you can spit through your neighbor's window, which is ironic given the sheer size of this country. An 'old' house here is anything over 10 years old I find alot of people coming over from UK (and leaving the rat race) tend to want more space, so you might want to consider something a little further out.

Good luck

Sealaig

Hello sorry it gate crash your post but I was thinking of moving to a few places, Airdrie or Cochrane being one of them, not sure between each one if did hear that Airdire has a no business tax, which would be good as I have my own business. Would anyone be able to tell me pros and cons to each place.

I am interested in knowing how easy it would be for partner having to commute either in Calgary or up north. Prices of rent between the two areas? Are they similar in price range? Also what kinds of things do they have in the areas for young children, or do they have to go to Calgary to get the most out of it. Stuff like playground, swimming, hockey.. Etc..

Sorry if I'm not making sense.. I've just been swaying between the two areas, back and forth.

haggis88

Airdrie is pretty much "Little Calgary", there's nothing in Calgary you won't find in Airdrie tbh (well, except from a decent nightclub scene). Loads of hockey rinks (in and outdoor), parks, gyms and shops

Commuting to Calgary isn't something i'd like to do, always seems to be massive queues on Deerfoot from about 6.30am onwards...I'm lucky that I commute the other way so don't hit it, but plenty of people make it work, and there's a morning shuttle goes from Airdrie to Calgary and back at night (dunno the timing though, and it's only once a day).

And on a warmer note, my trucks thermometer was reading 13*C after work today!

Bucks_Family

Haggis has summed Airdrie up pretty well, we're very happy here, but then we don't have to commute to downtown either (we run a consultancy from home, no business tax as such but we do have to buy a license from the city, $100/year).
Funnily enough the city tweeted today that the intercity bus service has added an extra bus to the route between the west side of Airdrie to Calgary downtown, so there are three in the morning, and three in the afternoon. There's two buses running from the east side of Airdrie. More info here.

We didn't rent here, we bought a house and moved in within 3 weeks of arriving, so can't help with renting here. When we moved over we stayed in Cochrane (with The Thornes, highly recommended! :-) ). We really liked Cochrane, with its closer access to the mountains, and with the Bow river running through it, but we could get more house for our budget in Airdrie than in Cochrane or Calgary.

I met my daughter off the school bus today without wearing a jacket, that's how warm it is this week. It was -30 last week though.

Sealaig

thanks for both responses, I am still not sure where my OH will work. but it could be even up north in the camps for weeks on and off.. but it is good to know if he is commuting to Calgary that from Airdrie would be a pain. I may need to look into alternatives if that happens.. thanks