Originally Posted by london_calling (Post 11668093)

If you choose to conflate 'Europe' with the EU then you are moronic. Are the Swiss entitled to their own continent as well?

Originally Posted by Boiler (Post 11668078)

Even in the Graunidad, whose credentials I doubt you would argue with I have often seen reference to Europe as being over there.

Originally Posted by london_calling (Post 11668093)

If you choose to conflate 'Europe' with the EU then you are moronic. .....

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 11668099)

It seems to irritate those "morons" that have bought-in to the European super-state dream. :lol:

Originally Posted by Boiler (Post 11668100)

How is that going.....?

Originally Posted by stockhall (Post 11667536)

The only one i am keen on as many of them doing is swimming and that requires a minimal cost of swim hat and goggles.

Originally Posted by stockhall (Post 11667791)

It certainly feels like most of you are saying don't move to texas.

Originally Posted by stockhall (Post 11667807)

Thank you for the reply.

Of course it would be ideal with just me and husband.

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise (Post 11667955)

PFFF!
it's about 90 degrees today, gentle breeze blowing, kids have been hopping in and out of the pool, all playing nicely. We had lunch on the patio under the pergola with the fan blowing. My neighbour has gone away for the weekend and asked if her son can stay with us (of course! He gets on v well with youngest daughter)

We have street parties at least 2x a year and there is a huge range of nationalities in our street (including an Afghani family who were telling me about how their marriage was arranged)

We had a celebration party at home for my graduating high schooler where family friends we have known since she was a baby in Scotland came (Scots who love it here), another Austin family we have known for 15 years, some neighbours (Australian, Puerto Rican, Floridian and Minnesotan) as well as friends from the kung fu club. All out in the garden, BBQ on the go. Kids playing in the pool.

Daughter has done v well in High School, she and her friends are going to the best universities in the country. They've gone to one of the best high schools in the country. Since her college isn't costing us much we're paying for her to have a holiday in India and her 2 best friends are going with her (one is of Indian birth)

This evening we will take the family to a fab burger restaurant as a surprise, a beautiful lakeside setting, boats, paddle boarders, live music and about $10 a head.

Son is going to China for a 3 week immersion in chinese so that he will do well next year in IB chinese - in his class only 3 of the kids are not native chinese speakers and his confidence will improve.

Summer horse-riding camps, canoeing lessons, camping in colorado. Oh yes and we're pretty sure we can manage a cheapish ski holiday in New Mexico.

Our family income is less than Stockhall's.
Rosetinted???? Bring it on!

Originally Posted by Noorah101 (Post 11668040)

So if UK is not consisted part of Europe, what continent is it part of? Not trying to cause a stir, genuinely curious, as it goes against what I've thought all my life.

Rene

Originally Posted by stockhall (Post 11668058)

. The weather is unpredictable at times and can be down right dangerous, but you can keep safe.
.

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 11668241)

You're a bit late to this party! :rolleyes:

Originally Posted by Yorkieabroad (Post 11668242)

Busy weekend....now that the rain has stopped, I've been out and about enjoying the great outdoors under sunny blue skies before the mosquitos take over and hurricane season starts

Originally Posted by Sugarmooma (Post 11668521)

FIFY....😇😊

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise (Post 11668160)

I moved to the US because I was a bit fed-up with France and we were all rather constricted there. Not many opportunities etc. I thought I would wait to move when the kids had all finished school, I didn't want to upset their education again. Then one day, a friend of mine in the UK kissed his wife goodbye in the morning, suggested that she take a pill for her headache and went off to work She was dead by 5 that afternoon. A very rare form of cancer that is only ever diagnosed post-mortem - once you get symptoms you will be dead within hours.

Big wake-up call for me. OH was in HQ in Austin. He came home and I said I want to move and I don't care where. He'd just been asked (again)if he would move to Austin. 8 weeks later we were in Austin. So, I had no better reason to come here than the fact that it wasn't France. Oh and I didn't want to have to learn another language!!

There were reasons that meant it worked for the family and it has worked out for the best. I miss France terribly sometimes. I go to Wholefoods and spend a fortune on their french goodies. I don't really miss the UK anymore apart from my family.

Originally Posted by stockhall (Post 11668565)

wow that is so sad, I am trying very hard to get a holiday out of him for us all, so we can at least see the outsides of the houses that I have saved and experience what is for offer.

I probably will get homesick when I can not get my favourite chocolate bar or watch my favourite tv shows, but in the grand scheme of things not the worst that could happen.

Originally Posted by Yorkieabroad (Post 11668240)

The intensity applied to sports here may be an eye opener. My 3 all swim, and while it is a lot cheaper than other sports, there are still costs involved....coaching (until HS), club fees, travel to meets etc. also, many of the clubs are quite conservative....they normally insist on a swimming costume too....;)


That is a common theme on here. You will get used to it. You will also notice that most of the people pushing that view are talking from a position of near total ignorance of living in Texas. You have probably already realized that most of the people actually living here do enjoy it.



I think as families grow, the ability to deal with the family size grows too. I only have 3 kids, eldest 14, and I'm sitting here thinking "move with 6 kids....crikey!", but then if someone had told me 15 years ago that one day I'd be swanning all round the world with 3 kids in tow, I'd have thought "crikey" then, too. You do what you have to as your family dynamics change.




Sounds like hell. Why on earth would you move to the godforsaken sh!thole that calls itself Texas....;)



They're just messing. UK may geographically be part of Europe, but emotionally, many Brits (self included) don't feel or consider themselves European


Actually, (this spring apart), the weather here is very predictable, which is one of the things I like about it. It is very rare for us to have to change plans because of the weather, and contrary to what some would have you believe, the "downright dangerous" bits are few and far between. Yes, we've just entered "hurricane season", but other than hearing ads on the radio warning you to be prepared, and having "whole house generator" salesmen pitching their wares, most years hurricane season will slip by unnoticed and be over again before you realize it. That's not to say it can't happen, but most years it barely impacts on your day to day life.

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl (Post 11668573)

It's much easier to get British goodies and watch British TV stations now than it was when we moved 19 years ago. Believe me that goes a long way in helping you adjust and cope with homesickness....or at least it works for me.