Bonnie01

Hi there

My husbands company has rumbled on for a long time about moving him internationally. Its finally come to a head and the company would like to relocate him to Houston (at very short notice due to a number of reasons).

We are keen to see Houston and find out what it's like for a young family to live for a few years. I understand our initial visit will be in about 10 days with a final decision to come from us within the month and relocation to happen by the end of August / September. Once I'd shut my jaw drop I assured my husband I'd make an effort to find out what life is like with little people in Houston given the pressure that has been put on him from work! He is excited about the opportunity though so it's all positive.

I'm a stay-at-home mum who has two boys aged 3 and 1. They are both very energetic and we do a number of activities during the week here including:

Monday - playgroup (I go with the youngest)
Tuesday - playgroup (I go with the youngest)
Wed - gym club, music class, nursery for the youngest
Thurs - our free day for playdates, catching up on jobs etc
Fri - nursery for both boys
Sat - swimming lessons for both
Sun - rugby lessons for the 3yr old

I love my life with the boys from a social aspect for me as well as things to do with them.

Can anyone please advise me of any playgroups, toddler groups, social activities with very young children, library times, sport clubs or classes that accept youngsters etc. In fact I'd be interested in hearing about anything at this stage to have something to check out. We'll give most things a try!

I'm feeling very excited about the move but am going to miss all my mum friends very dearly and I would be keen to get out there and have fun whilst hopefully making some new friends too.

I'd be really interested to hear of any playgroups or other ideas of what we can drop into or arrange a visit during our visit to get a feel for what its like and to give our 3 year old a break from being trailed around Houston.

Thanks ever so much for your time and any advice offered in advance.

lisa67

Hi and welcome to BE. Sorry, I'm further north than Houston and have teenage kids, but if it's anything like where I live there's plenty to do for small kids. Try looking on line at the YMCA programs. Also Barnes and Noble (very large chain of book stores) do Mom and Me story time and I expect the local library will too.
You might try asking your question on www.city-data.com too

edmontron

Rugby for 3 year olds?! I guess the nappies they are wearing come in handy for cushioning when falling over...

christmasoompa

Rugby, football, cricket etc, for children as young as that are really popular these days. Oh, and they won't be wearing nappies at 3 years old - I'm guessing you don't have kids!

Mummy in the foothills

I never did find playgroups or anything like that here for my guys when they were little, I had a few friends and we would meet up and do a play day at the park. Any organized activities for us would have involved a 45 minute drive one way and huge fees, so I pretty much gave up, then when Ds was 3 went back to work two day a week and enrolled him in a preschool/daycare facility for those days.

Bonnie01

thanks for the info, I've got a long list going for hopefully an informative and helpful visit.

Bob

Welcome to BE and good luck with the move!

For more general info, such as things and places to go see and do, there's plenty of threads on Houston already and the wiki is a great place to start when looking for info on relocations.

As for the kids, no idea about down that way, but you'll probably find far less in terms of free stuff for young kids, pre-school tends to be really expensive and museums and those kind of kids adventure parks/zoo's/farms etc tend to charge for 2 years plus.

The mall might have some kids events on a weekly basis, the Simon's owned malls do if you pay for annual membership. Borders tend to have a weekly kids story time and you'll probably find other places doing the odd thing now and again, but there's probably a new mums group on meetup.com and the libraries probably do craft things and stories too.

Butterflybid

Hi,

I just moved to the US (Pennsylvania) a month ago with my husband and 14 month old. we've found that there's lots going on for little ones, although you pretty much have to pay for everything and it all seems more expensive than in the UK (although it probably balances out since we don't seem to pay so much tax here). we haven't found there to be 'playgroups' as we had in the UK but don't fear as there's loads else going on and i'm sure houston will be the same:

free activities:
-local library for storytime/singing session
-local bookshops for same
- meetups website - we have a very active mommies meet-up group here where mums can advertise playdates, park meet-ups, local kids activities and trips further afield (also good for discussion forums for sussing out all sorts of things e.g. medical care recommendations)

activities that cost:
-Gymboree Play & Music - run baby gym, music, art and sport classes (you can do a taster session of any classes you're interested in so that might be one to try when you're over on your pre-moving trip if there's a branch near where you might be living). my daughter loves it!
- The Little Gym - don't have experience of this one but think that they have branches all over too and also do tasters.
- YMCA (who seem to run all the sports/leisure centres here) - lots of classess for little ones, from swimming classes to toddler soccer.

Good Luck!!! We've had a really positive experience over here so far so hope you do too.

ps. just reviewed my post before submitting it and see that someone else has just posted with some duplicate things to those i've mentioned - got to rush and make my daughter some dinner so no time to amend - apologies, but hope there's still some useful additions for you!

Bob

Give it time, you'll soon find that you do

Welcome to BE though!

tigerbaywarrior

Look for 'Mothers Day Out' or home grown playgroups. When we arrived in Houston, my wife found these groups on local forums and by going to church. If nothing else, you'll get a feel for how things work. Watch out though - some of the groups are full of whining ex-pats.

Keep asking questions and you'll get more and more answers!

Good luck!

Bonnie01

Thanks for the tip - will exercise caution when socialising - I dont suffer fools gladly and tend to be more glass half full than empty.

BTW - my Scarlets fan husband is highly impressed by welshness being in Houston as well!!

Dougster75

There is a thriving Rugby club out in Katy (if that is where you choose to live) and as far as we could tell, pretty much everyone there is expat. So it's not good for mixing with the locals but is good for a taste of home. They meet on Sunday afternoons at Beck JH School and have a group of little 'uns. Feel free to PM me and I can send contact details. Our two used to do it but we had to give up due to a conflict with another activity.

Good luck!

Doug.

S Folinsky

I am American, lived all my life in California and my girls are tad older -- 30 and 27. I think your boys will adjust just fine and dandy -- in fact, I bet a lot easier than you will!

I know that I found that I met many interesting people through my kids!