Thursday night flows...

I know it has only been two days since I posted, but it feels like a lot has happened....

I emailed Oli's school (CCES), to say thanks for the correspondence and to ask questions about preschools for Isaac, testing for Oliver and their requirement for Oliver's report cards. They were very prompt in their response. They can advise on preschool, but wish to see the list we have given. Once they receive Oliver's admission form, they will arrange for the CLARITY testing to be on our look and see trip. I spoke to Oliver's teacher, Mr Ancell, this morning and have arranged to go for a chat with him next Thursday after school. He was able to tell me that Oliver's next report will be out next Friday.

I spoke to isaac's preschool this morning. They are more than happy for us to take his learning journal with us to the States in August. They were a bit surprised by our planned move, but wished us well. Think I may give them details of the blog nearer the time.....

Got a response from Worthing Cat Protection regarding the cat. They can find no record of her (typical!). They suggest we take her to the vet, get her microchip scanned, then get back in contact with them. They can then begin reregistering her chip to us. Think I will take her to the vets in between France and America.

Paul received an email from company B yesterday regarding our flights for our look and see. We fly on 25th August from heathrow with Delta Airlines. Did someone say business class??? Yes we are flying transatlantic business class, with lie down seats!!!! I was jumping around the room with excitement when he told me this. I have never flown business class. Will be interesting with 3 small children though. At least they will have space to walk around. All the seats seem to be enclosed, so at least everyone else won't have to see them (just hear them....). The boys can even have kids meals. Although we have since heard that we can order pretty much anything we like to eat. Sebastian even gets his own seat, the Federation American Aviation recommends a child restraint for children under 2. Typically they only allow one, and it is not cheap. It will be an investment though. We fly into Atlanta, have a 1h 45min lay over, which is perfect. Once we arrive in Greenville, we will be getting a 'minivan' (people carrier). seb needs a car seat, Isaac only needs a booster, and Oliver doesn't need anything. We then drive from the airport for about 6 miles to our hotel, which also looks wonderful. Each room has a mini kitchen, and breakfast is complimentary. There is also a complimentary happy hour and a pool. The boys are gonna love it.

He have a bit of an idea of our itinery, at least with regards to house hunting. 3-4 days before we fly. Company b will send us a list of 10-12 houses which they intend to show us over about 3 days. Soooo can't wait to get that list. We also have to view school/preschools and sort out bank accounts. Flying back, we board the plane in Greenville about 5.30pm, fly to Atlanta, have a 3 1/2 hour layover till we hop back into business class to fly back to the UK. We arrive back in the UK at about 11.15 on the Sunday morning. Almost perfect flights for us. Really need to get the blog press app, really want to start putting photos on here.

We have been making a point of taking more photos, so the boys can remember the UK and all their friends/family here. Paul has tomorrow off work, hurrah. It is Olivers sports day, the last one he will have here. We have my mum and Paul's parent coming down. Feel the need for lots more photos.....

Tuesday night dribbles.....

Well, my evening with Philippa went well. We met in the car park, unintentionally, and she had guessed we were moving, just didn't know where. I filled her in on all the info that's on here, and pointed her in this blogs direction, so hello Philippa!

Turns out we missed some vital info when we were looking at the relocation companies website. Isaac is able to go to preschool, and there is a list of 6 to choose from. I have narrowed it down to 2 that I really like the look of. Again, the company pays up to a certain amount.

Paul is still waiting on a few bits of info for the visa, typically it is info from the America side! But the lady at company a suggested he sent what he has, then she will pass it on to the immigration person to see if it is sufficient. Paul has found his mentor though, which is good.

Paul received an email today from company b (relocation company), to say that they are going to be arranging our flights, hotels and rental car for our look and see trip. So looks like we are going to America on 25th August!!! Holy cow, can't believe it is happening.......

Starting to feel a bit more confident about telling people. Can't help looking round my house wondering what we should sell. Looked into Oliver's school uniform, just as 'research'. That's not cheap... Also checked out his school dates, very informative. So much going on in this little brain of mine. Not forgetting the iCMA that I have for my chemistry residential due 3rd July, and TMA03 for my psychology course due 1st September. Personally I have a hectic month in July, regarding OU work. Then holiday, then more OU work, then America for our look and see.

The beginning of the paperwork

So today.....

We sat down at the computer and started going through the emails properly. We began gathering the documents we need for the visas. I dug out our marriage certificate, the boys birth certificates, Paul's university degree. It states he needs details of his thesis/final year project but he only has his course module results. We hope that this will be sufficient. All these documents need to be scanned along with EVERY page of all 5 passports! Paul also needs to gather work info ( job descriptions, organisation structures etc). Will hopefully be able to send all these details on Monday or Tuesday to start the visa process.

We filled in an online questionnaire for the relocation company. We have put in our requests for dates of our look and see trip (25 August - 1st September). We had to fill in details about required property - 4 bedrooms, fenced in back yard, furnished, near other ex-pats and with access to a pool and facilities. We also had to fill in details about the cat, looks like she may be travelling with us (as if having 3 children is not enough), really hope the relocation company use a pet shipper, otherwise it will just add to our hassle.

We filled in details of the school we want Oliver to go to. We also rearranged our holiday to France from the beginning of August to 24th July-7th August. Cost us £10! Our visa interview will hopefully be the week after. It is quite sad in a way though, as grandad Lee is not due to fly out to France until 8th August, which means he probably will not holiday with us. He will be sorely missed. Hoping he might be able to change his dates, but we will see...

We then took a trip to Tesco to look at the suitcases they have on offer. We thought they would not be big enough. We got home and had a look online as to sizes and prices. Turns out the Tesco deal is actually very cheap, and bigger than it looks, so I think we will be investing in at least one of these, to go with the big suitcase we have upstairs. Would also like to get some kind of take on cases for the boys. Not sure we want to go down the trunki route, but will investigate nearer the time. I was also looking at flights for our look see today. The company likes to use Delta, but the details we have are for flights out of Munich. Delta do fly out of Heathrow on the days we require, with a very short stop over in Detroit. We will see what the relocation company comes back to us with. Last thing we need is a long lay over. Paul is quite keep for us to fly with American Airlines as they fly out of Gatwick directly to Charlotte. From there it is only about a 2 hour drive to Greenville.

I am seeing my good friend Philippa on monday night to tell her the news. Have not seen her properly for a while so that will be nice. Must decide when I am going to link this blog to my Facebook, might wait till after my next Netmums night out.... Enjoying the music of the Isle of Wight festival and Radio 1's Hackney weekend. Not sure we will get this kind of coverage in the states.....

Recent developments...

A big HELLO to all the netmums from February 2011, and my friends/ family who have been guided or have inadvertently found this blog. Please keep following me, it will get more interesting.......

So since yesterday..... Paul received 3 emails, one from the visa people, one from the relocaters, and one from the private school. The visa people need Paul to fill out lots of 'interesting' forms to get the visa process started. The relocaters will arrange our look and see, our first travel, and everything else! The school (Christchurch Epicospical School, look it up if you feel inclined) have sent us some forms to fill in to begin the admissions process for Oliver. It's quite funny, as 2 of these forms are in German, obviously for those coming from BMW in Germany. They are expecting Oliver to go into Grade 2, the English equivalent of year 3. They will test him first to see which grade his ability is. I have done a bit of research on this, and I think he will be ok in this academically, but we will see!

Isaac's first attempt at writing his name

I also want them to test Isaac, as although he is not meant to start kindergarten till the September after he is 5 (2014!!!), I think they will take him in September 2013, especially as he is being paid for. He has been practicing writing today, copying words, I am really pleased with how clear they are for one of his first attempts. I swear Oliver could not write this well at 3 1/2! I have also booked Oliver and Isaac's hepatitis B vaccinations.

All children in the US are vaccinated for this as part of their routine vaccinations from birth. And we thought we put our kids immune systems through a lot.... So 11th July, jabs for the big boys, just before school. The way to make a good day, NOT! I am not doing Sebastian, as in theory he will be 4 when we come home, so should not need them. If he ends up in daycare/ preschool out there, then I will get them done in the US, at the companies expense.

I am beginning to sell a lot of baby stuff form around the house. I plan to add more stuff to my page when I need too. Hopefully I can make a little bit of money, so we have a bit extra before we go and do not need to ship anything unnecessarily. If you are on Facebook please look for the Goslings Great House Clearance page. No doubt I will be posting again soon, so look out for it. Much love xxx

Its happening...........

Feel quite hungover today, sat up til nearly 1am drinking and chating about all that Paul found out yesterday.


So here goes..........  Paul has lots of things he neds to do to secure his job for when we come back. He has to find a mentor and get a personal development plan going.  He has someone in mind, so it should not be too hard. 


The lady fromAmerica HR was very helpful.  He is going on an intercompany transfer, so will be applying for a L1B visa, specialist knowledge. Shortly his info will be pased on to international HR based in Oxford, they wil sort his tax/salary/etc.  They sort all the fine details.  The company use another company (company A)in the US to fluff up his job stuff, to American standards, then apply for the visa.   They send over this info, which we need to take to the embassy in London for an interview. They will take our passports, which we should receive back about a week later with visas. This whole proces from fluffing up job description to visa interviews should take about 10 weeks. So that puts us in the middle of August.


About 6 weeks before his oficial start date (1st October) we go for our look and see.  This is a Saturday-Saturday trip full of activities, organised by yet another company (company B)!  They sort al the flights, hotel, rental car etc.  Company B also arrange the move.  We will recieve a questionnaire from them with regards to packing our stuff, the cat, and al that jazz.


What this means is, I can still do my residential school, we can still go to France (we need to change our ferry boking for about the 23rd July-4th August), then at some point before the boys go back to school we will be going to America for the week. I get 2 holidays this sumer, wooohooo!


So thats it. We are moving to America!!!!  I am sooooooooooooooo excited, I am going to get an X5!!!!!  Cant wait to drive that bad boy, lol!!!!!

Time to tell.....

My weekend was a resounding success. The boys were goodish for nanny and grandad, other than seb being really unsettled going to bed, then waking in the night and having to go in with mum and lee! Oli played the wii loads. They all fell asleep in the car on the way home, and are still awake and being absolute monkeys.....trying my best to ignore them, but if I have to go up again, I will take away all their computer time (evil mummy.....)

Annas party was great fun. It was nice to catch up with Anna, Kirstie and Maria. There was not as many people as expected, which meant more woowoo's! Everyone who was there had a good time, and the Jagerbombs were lovely, thanks Anna. Was also nice to chat with Emma, she was another of Anna's bridesmaids, and I have not seen her since the wedding. Nice to catch up... I told my friends of the grand plan, so I think it's time I put it down here....

Paul has managed to secure a transfer from Rolls Royce in Chichester to BMW in Spartenberg, America. He has had telephone meetings with the guys over there, and although it is more of a side step than a promotion, It will be a fantastic opportunity for him (and us!). I believe it is a job in power train analysis of diesel engines in the X3 model, basically he gets to drive cars round a test track listening for squeaks rattles etc, then analysing them. I think it is probably most men's dream job! His boss in the US ideally wants him to start on 1st September, but realistically knows, given the visa situation that it is more likely to be 1st October. Until Paul speaks to US HR on Wednesday, we don't know much more than that. Paul has spoken to quite a lot of his American colleagues, so we know a bit more. He has also accessed some info on the BMW intraweb, so we have a rough idea of a few details. They are 2 cars (that's new BMW's), as we have a large family we will have a rental allowance of $1850 a month, Oliver's school can (and will) be paid for, not sure about preschool yet for Isaac, as kindergarten does not start till the September after he is 5 (that's September 2014!!!!). There is medical cover, need to look into the full details of that, given my diabetes. We also get 1 flight home a year each. Paul is on a minimum contract of 3 years, so the earliest we will be back is September 2015, the longest we can stay is 5 years. I also receive a training allowance, which should enable me to complete my OU degree out there. I have already checked this out, and I am fully able to take my exams out there, I just need an address in the UK to send all my books to. We also have to partake in a 'look and see' trip about a month before we go. This will take place during Paul's normal working week, we will all go over to South Carolina and check it out. We will choose a house, and look for a school for Oliver.

Now the things I am going to speculate on. I have been using a great website called British expats, which has given me so much info. I think BMW must have a blanket visa to enable all their employees to travel at short notice. Paul will go out on a L1 visa, me and the boys on a L2 visas. Passports need to be valid for 6 months after the time your visa expires. Paul's, isaac's and my passports all run out in 2014, so we may need to renew our passports before we can even think about visas. We will have to go to the US embassy in London for visa interviews, I think we will do this before the look and see week. Given that I have a OU residential school 14-20 July, then we are supposed to be going to my mums mobile in France 31st July till the 20th August, fitting these things in could be interesting....

We have checked out using google earth where the factory and the school are, and I now have realtor.com on my iPad to look for houses within our budget. I feel like a kid in a candy store, lol! I could write sooooooooo much more on the things I could speculate on/need to think about, but until Paul has the chat with US HR there is no point. This post was not meant to be this long, but it is nice to get it down, and nice to be able to tell people, after keeping it to ourselves for months. After Wednesday i will start telling a lot more of my friends around here, the people i see regularly. I will probably also start giving out this blog address too. Not sure I want to put it on Facebook yet, still don't want to jinx it completely. I will probably message people this blog. I also need to figure out how to add photos. Might have a play in a bit.... Right, that will do for now. Will update more on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on how the phone call goes x

It's coming

Evening....

The call is coming, appointment is next Wednesday afternoon at 3pm. I look forward to Paul coming home that day.....

This week Paul has been in Germany working. He was able to meet up with someone who gave him lots of info about what will probably happen when we get the call, so that's good. Paul is off to Le Mans tomorrow to watch the 24 hour race. It may be his last chance for a while....

I am taking the boys up to my mums on Saturday. They are staying there while I stay at my dads. It is my friend Anna's 30th birthday party on Saturday night, and I am quite looking forward to it. Will be nice to catch up with Anna and Kirstie, hoping Maria will be ther too. Then it's back to my dads to stay, then back to get the boys on Sunday, then drive home. A lot of driving, but will be worth it. Contemplating telling my friends about our plans. They are my oldest friends, and although we don't see each other very much, I would like to think we are still close.

Think I will post on here in the next few days about what our plans are, especially as I can't seem to find this blog when I look for it... Has anyone else read this yet, or do I have to do something special to make it public?

Just in case....

Afternoon, I am setting up this blog in case what we are planning actually happens! If it does, this will be a great way for friends and family to keep up with us, instead of using Facebook.

A bit about us: I am Clare, 30, living in Littlehampton with my husband Paul (34), and our 3 boys, Oliver (6), Isaac (3) and Sebastian (1). Paul currently works for Rolls Royce, and has done for about 7 years. I am a stay at home mum, and part time student, about 2/3rds of my way through a BSc in Molecular Science with the Open Univeristy. I have been studying for 5 years, and should be finished October 2014, just before they discontinue my degree!

The boys: Oliver is in year 1 at Georgian Gardens school, a fabulous school. He has lots of friends, and is slowly moving away from having just one friend. He is very good at reading, reading 2 years ahead. All his school work is excellent. Isaac is 3, 4 in November. He is one of the oldest in his school year, and still has another full year to do at his preschool, Little Explorers. He enjoys preschool, and his best friend is Daniel, who is a bit older, shall be interesting to see how he takes to preschool with no Daniel in September. Sebastian will be 2 in January. To say he is a handful is an understatement! He is very loving though, a real mummies boy, that's probably the problem lol! Seb is with me all day everyday, although he does still nap, which is bliss for me!

At the moment we are happy plodding along, trying to do the best for our boys while paying off debt and having fun. As I mention above, there are plans afoot, which may change this. We are literally waiting on a phone call to see if our lives get turned upside down. Hopefully this call will come next week. If it does, I shall update this blog accordingly, and possibly pass the info to family. Will still try and keep it a bit quiet from friends for now, so if you know me, and you find this..... SSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

My Boys