scrubbedexpat099

Hmm

That might be where he lives?

Pulaski

There is nowhere here quite like Houston.

Weeze

How does one apply to be in the KVF?

petitefrancaise

raspberry ants???? bloody hell. I hate wildlife like this. I haven't seen any fireants or scorpions yet but there was a huge copperhead snake in the middle of the road near us - people were driving around it...

When it comes to kids activities here, well we all come with the stuff we used to do elsewhere and then adapt. My son played badminton in France but that is non-existant here, then he enjoyed swimming but found it all too competitive here. We used to ski almost every weekend in France but well, not much snow here! I loved biking and running in France, I can do that here but it's not the same. I'm just getting used to cycling on roads and running on trails.
Kids will be signed up for a week of canoe/paddle boarding on Lake Austin. Apparently we now have a Brit Olympic rowing team member here in Austin and he's set up a training group for "youths". That would be nice to get them into.
I don't really see kids cycling round but on the other hand, the local middle school has a load of bikes outside it during school time. I know JJMB doesn't like it, but there are loads of trails/paths for off road biking in all the parks.

stockhall

You sound like a really sporty family

Pulaski

Rasberry crazy ants, named after Tom Rasberry, a Texas pest exterminator who first described them.

Weeze

I'm late to the party no probably don't have a lot to add that hasn't been covered already. I like living in Texas. I wouldn't choose to live in Spring unless work commitments said I had to. San Antono is beautiful, but for us would have added yet another flight transfer on for most destinations we used.
Like others have said, you need to approach it like moving to somewhere that doesn't speak English. By that I mean attitudes are so different it's easier to expect things to be more different and then be nicely surprised. Some examples I can think of;
Hugely more sexist - it's like 1970s/1980s UK round here. Expect a lot of, I'll need to speak t the man of the house. It can be frustrating, annoying and in some cases, down right silly. One example was I couldn't collect our access keys to the neighbourhood pools without an email from my husband. I sat in reception, logged onto his emails and emailed myself permission.
Racist - Really, really racist. At library story times the Caucasians sit separately to everyone else. It still amazes me. As to some of the comments my mixed race friends relieve, omg.
Drink Driving - it's the norm. Presume anyone you go out with will be
Guns - they are going to be in pretty much every house your kids visit. Have the talk. My pediatrician advises to start from 2.
Water - Drownings happen with a terrifying frequency. People don't watch their kids. Especially not if they think a lifeguard will. It's easy to get swim lessons. Either professional swim places, YMCA or a private teacher. Even if you don't get a pool, every second house they go to will.

petitefrancaise

I think Austin seems different to Houston. I haven't really experienced any open sexism or racism. People I meet seem to be pretty open to just about everyone.So much activity takes place around water so you really need to make sure the kids can swim.

Stockhall - in France everyone is expected to have their sport. Adults always ask the kids what their sport is - it's a very healthy way to be I think. What I liked is that you didn't have to be good at it, (but you did have to have JUST the right clothes :-) ). Unlike here where you are expected to be very, very good at something. I find it a bit daunting and competitive so I just go on my own.

There's a "Moonlight margarita 5k " on Thursday which OH and I will do. Last year it was 93 degrees at 8.30pm and I thought I was going to die. Hardest margarita I've ever had to earn! Then there was a tornado alert on the way home, so I called the kids and told them to go to the laundry room (no windows). They laughed...

scrubbedexpat099

Never noticed that in Colorado.

Canveydave

This has been a really interesting thread to read and is a really good snapshot of BE in general I think, some excellent answers and advice, some blunt answers, but all given trying to help.

$197k in Texas will go a long way I am sure, but with that many children I am not sure quite how far! One thing though you will be paying very little tax!

Good luck with whatever you decide. Texas has this reputation of being a bit backwards. We live in the outskirts of Houston and it is nowhere near as redneck as we thought before we moved over. In fact dare I say it, in parts it is very cosmopolitan.

We have only been here 5 months, but our standard of living is much better. Food is a bit more expensive on the whole, eating out a lot less expensive.

In my eyes there is little wrong with wanting to move somewhere to have a bigger house and a better car. Why not? There is nothing noble in staying in a %$£thole cramped in a house that's too small.

One piece of advice though, with that big a family, join Costco

Weeze

Yes! Before I moved I thought it would be all cactus and Cowboys!

Pulaski

This story has multiple relevant connections - Texas, pools, minorities, ....... At least this time nobody got shot, though I suspect the cop might be about to get fired.

Yorkieabroad

Don't worry - a city as diverse as Houston is something many others aspire to....

You're already a paid up member

You are clearly not looking hard enough. They are so prevalent and disruptive as to be a perfectly valid reason for avoiding all 260,000 odd square miles of Texas..

I miss that too - when we were kids we had "pick up games", (although we didn't call them that) every week, but it's pretty much non-existent here too. Unless you are in an "organized" sport, it can be pretty hard to just play something for fun. Fun? Well there's a novel idea, what?

I agree about the sexism. As a man looking after kids here, I have to say I came across a massive wall of sexism from some of the women who can be massively sexist and "exclusionary". We eventually found friends and baby groups willing to accept a man in their midst, but it took a while. I'm sure it would have been easier elsewhere - I've done it in Singapore and Yorkshire, and both were significantly more "accepting" - I suspect other parts of the US may be easier too. As the non-working partner, there were (and possibly still are?) other things I couldn't do - sign up for cell phones, utilities etc - without my wife's "consent". I suspect most of that was 'practical' rather than sexist, but annoying all the same. I couldn't say whether that was Texas specific, but I suspect not.

Must admit, I haven't been much on the receiving end of this, although I did have an interesting conversation with our PTA president who seemed to have forgotten that my wife was Chinese I suspect my experience may be different if I were Mexican, or African American......


We've just finished a barbie, and wife is currently ferrying home a few folk that we persuaded to stay longer than intended. Her car was exclusively Brit and Scandi....the Americans drove themselves. Small sample, but interesting nonetheless....

I reckon less than half the houses I/my kids visit have guns, but that is still waaaay too many. We started about 4 or 5 with the safety talks, and my kids have all been on gun safety courses (the Boy Scouts do a much better job of this than the Girl Scouts) and are all better acquainted with gun safety than me or my wife. Very close second to swim lessons..............

I've mentioned before on here about the mom that dropped her 6 yo kid off at a swim party at our house and 'forgot' to mention that she couldn't swim, or provide her with any flotation devices....WTF??

I think a lot of people actually living here may agree with you. Out-of-staters probably not so much.

I think the recent floods drowned most of the cactus, and the cowboys are still too busy digging their chuck wagons out of the bayou to really impact our daily life....

stockhall

Wow the drink driving surprises me considering the rather harsh laws. Racism hmm that is quite shocking in this day and age, for most of their lives they were integrated in a mega multicultural city then we moved here which is 99% Caucasian.

I will think on how to teach a 2 year old about gun safety when it is not an issue here.

stockhall

The only sport I have ever been any good at is swimming. My hand eye coordination is atrocious for sports think my kids are the same. Badminton I can at least hit the shuttlecock some times. If only motherhood was a sport i would have a fighting chance.