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