Our youngest , who is 11, has lost touch with most of her friends in the UK.They all moved to secondary school this year and so had lots of new things happening and she has new friends here and lots of new hobbies.

My two eldest, who were 14 and 16 when we moved, have kept in touch more. They are in the UK at the moment visiting friends. They tend to use My Space and things like that , which the youngest hasn't bothered with.

My children do very little compared to most of their US friends but their lives are still busier than in the UK. They get a lot more homework and everyone is involved in so much...sports, music, you name it.
Life is planned with military precision to make sure I don't forget anything!

Once my daughter started to drive she realised if she went back to the UK to visit she'd be stranded. I know it sounds bad but you get so used to just jumping in your car and going where you want...when you want...not having to rely on lifts or public transport. Not that there is much public transport where we are.

There is lots of public transport where we used to live and all their friends use it. None of them can drive.
When they get back the eldest, who is 18 now, has to take her test before she goes off to college. She doesn't want to but I don't want her to be stranded.

Quite right...it's essential to be able to drive IMO...whether it's here or the UK. The younger you learn the easier it is.

When you get here find your nearest Wegmans store. It is by far the best grocery store in NJ and they have a decent international section which has quite a bit of british food.

My children were 10 and 5 when we moved here. My 5 year old adapted straight away but my 10 year old found settling into his new school quite difficult for the first couple of months but by the end of the school year he had made lots of friends. Five years later both of them absolutely love life over here and although they love going back to England to visit they can't wait to get back 'home' to NJ.

Kings supermarkets are also good...although few and far between and they are only in northern NJ. Up until a year or so ago they were owned by M&S.

Bring lots of deodorant and toiletries. I think the UK stuff is much nicer than the stuff here.
Lots of goodies from Boots and Superdrug.

You get used to finding toiletries that are just as good...although it may take months or years!! Deodorants are another matter...I like sprays but here it's mostly sticks...so I always bring some back from the UK. Imperial Leather soap is a must to bring over.

Toilet rolls are another thing to get used to...there is no Andrex equivalent here.

We have to use leaves

We used to go to France and Spain a lot and I used to bring shower gels and soap back from there. They were lovely. I like perfumed things, not fruity smelling things. I haven't found anything I really like here. However, Sephora is comming to our local mall
We do have an Ulta and that has nice smelly stuff but it's a bit of a trek and we always spend too much.

Sephora's been in NJ for years now...I like Bath and Body Works too and of course Body Shop. Like you I don't care for fruity fragrances...or the unperfumed stuff...my fav is Vanilla.

We have a Sephora in the city but again it's a trek, now it will be 5 mins away.
I'd forgotton Bath and Body Works! I like their Vanilla, Brown sugar. and the Cherry Blossom. Having said I don't like fruity smells I do like their fig room fragrance and the Midnight Pommegranate.

The one smell I really like here, in the Autumn, is pumpkin spice.
Our nearest Body Shop is in the airport and you can only get to it if you have a boarding pass I suppose I could order on line.

Back in the UK I liked Virgin Vie stuff too

This might be your nearest NJ MVC office:

http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Location/Passaic.htm

I prefer B&BW original vanilla line...they dropped it about 8 yrs ago when they brought out vanilla brown sugar.

Welcome to BE...and have a gander at the US section of the wiki, as it answers many of your questions already

Did you find that your children fitted in O.K with the relevant school year in the U.S. As they start their children older I wondered if British children would be too "advanced" for their appropriate year in the U.S. How do they cater for clever children over there?