An evening at the Osbornes

It's Labor Day weekend and we were invited over to the Osbornes for a barbeque with some of their friends. Obviously not the Osbornes, but Aaron, Rob's work colleague, and his wife Nicola, fellow Brits who moved to Texas with their two kids just over a year ago. Originally from Oxford, they lived in Switzerland for a couple of years before moving out to Fort Worth, so it was great to meet up and make some friends that have been through the same process as us. They have a lovely house west of Fort Worth out in the countryside. The kids had a great time playing in the pool and garden, and watching films in their cinema room. The weather was glorious (again), food was great, and it was good to chat to everyone and pick a few brains. We had to leave at 10pm as the kids were getting tired and it's an hour drive home, which was a shame as the party was really starting to warm up!

D-Day

D-Day stands for delivery day. Our air freight boxes were supposed to take two weeks to reach us. They landed in Houston on the 17th of August and it's taken until now for them to be delivered, three and a half weeks. I was starting to get annoyed as there's things in the air freight we needed, like Alice's clarinet and lunch boxes, things that would just make life easier, like having enough plates, cutlery and chopping boards, before we get to the things that will make it feel a bit more like home. Our 11 boxes were finally delivered today and there are some happy faces around our still quite empty house.

Stuff, yay!

Alice gets stuck into unpacking.

A massive box full of Lego, I can't think why he's so pleased.

Some of our boxes were opened by customs, which is probably why
they took so long.

D-Day also stands for Dyson day, which I got more excited about than the air freight. When you see the ancient (and smelly) hoover we got with the rental furniture package you'll understand why.

It has no pipe, how are you supposed to dispatch
spiders with this?

That's more like it!

Locker decorating night

Alice gets her own locker at Eubanks, and it's just like you see in the films. This evening was 'locker decorating night', where the kids get a couple of hours in which to personalise the inside of their lockers. There is, of course, a sizable retail market around this, so after trips to Staples and Target Alice had bought a locker mirror, pen holder, magnets, some decorations and a shelf. She also printed off some of her favourite photos. Hers was very British and understated given that you could buy locker wallpaper, carpet and small chandeliers!

Getting started.

Ta-daaa!

RES Newcomers breakfast

This morning I attended the 'Newcomers Breakfast' at Rockenbaugh which is organised by the PTO (Parent Teacher Organisation). There are around 40 families new to the school this year, which I assumed didn't include the usual kindergarten intake, and most of them were there. The principal, assistant principal, school counselor and PTO president all gave a introduction talk about themselves, their careers, philosophy and goals at the school. We were given a folder with lots of useful information, both about the school and Southlake, as well as the breakfast buffet and coffee. All in all I was very impressed.

Bus rider

I managed to get back from dropping off the boys at school in time to see Alice get on to the bus this morning.

First day at school

Back to the old routine, well almost, the boys have half days this week as the teachers are doing one-to-one assessments in the afternoon. David & Evan have to be at their elementary school for 7:45am, so we walked as it's not too hot in the early morning. Alice decided to take the school bus, which leaves the corner of our street at 8am.  The school bus drives up our street to pick up the elementary kids, it loops back to Rockenbaugh, then comes back to collect the intermediate and middle school kids.

At 7:30am we're up, dressed and ready.

The walk to school was very pleasant, a mixture of walkers, cyclists, car drop-offs and kids on the bus. Everyone was very friendly, saying hello and good morning. I took the boys into their classroom, where Evan was given a very warm reception by his teacher.

They are ready to Rock!

In they go...

 

Evans teacher, Mrs Clardy.

On my walk back, I wave to Alice as she goes past on her bus, and she sent me a selfie. I am immensely proud of the way she has taken this in her stride, catching the bus all by herself, it's a big step to a big new school in a foreign country where she doesn't know anyone. That's my girl!

There she goes.

School bus selfie.

So the end of first day verdicts were:
Evan - "It was OK."
David - "It was awesome!"
Alice - "Good but tiring."

Just a regular Saturday

Today we tried to do what Texans do at the weekend: swim and eat barbeque. On our travels the kids had spotted a fun-looking swimming pool with slides they wanted to try out, so off we went to Dove Waterpark.

Then to the Feedstore BBQ (http://www.feedstorebbq.com/) for tea. It's a proper Texan BBQ house, with the tag line "A great place to meat!". It was recommended to us by our neighbours and landlord, who had left us a $50 voucher to use there.

David's got a sausage sandwich, so he's happy.

Evan gets stuck into the ribs

We ordered a bit too much food, so Bess had
a nice doggy bag when we got home.

The Feedstore BBQ, a proper BBQ roadhouse.

Oh, and Rob's car arrived today, at last! After all the banking and credit issues, even the delivery was troublesome.

We are officially a two-car family.

Meet the Teacher

The kids had an hour in their new schools meeting their new teachers and finding their "homerooms" today.

David and Evan are going to Robert H. Rockenbaugh Elementary School, which takes children from kindergarten to 4th grade. David and Evan are in 4th and 1st grades respectively. Yesterday both of their teachers phoned our house and asked to speak to the boys directly, which I thought was a really nice touch. The teachers apparently introduced themselves, said they were really excited to have them in their class this year, and asked them a few questions. So at 8:30am we are at Rockenbaugh, we go to David's classroom first. His school supply box is waiting at his desk and he has to put the items in various baskets and in his cubby under his desk, there's also some more forms to fill in. We introduce ourselves to his teacher, Mrs. Brannon, who seems very nice, and have a quick chat then it's off to Evan's classroom to repeat the process, where Evan's teacher, Mrs. Clardy, made a big fuss of him.

Alice will be in 6th grade Cleburne Eubanks Intermediate School, which has just 5th and 6th grades. We find her homeroom, and meet her homeroom teacher, Mrs Turnbow. She stayed for an hour, then I had to come back for a parent's meeting with the band director. Alice has been playing the clarinet for 3 years so it seemed logical for her to join the band. Although most of the other students are beginners, band is taken very seriously and they have lessons or practice for one period every day and have to keep practice records. Of course there's also a lengthy 'supply' list and more forms to fill in.

School supplies

I remember fondly getting my 'back-to-school' things at the the end of the summer holidays: a new pencil case, pencils, pens and a rubber, maybe a ring binder, and a new school bag to put it all in. Not here, they do school supplies on another level. It seems you have to buy almost all of the classroom disposables. The lists (a different one for each school/grade) are long and incomprehensible, with things like 'Composition Book Primary/Journal Top Half Blank-Story Book Black Marble 1-00 ct. -½" Ruling, ¼" Skip Line 9.75x7.5' and 'Green Pocket and Brad Folder' as well as boxes of Kleenex, Ziploc bags and Sharpie pens. It must be the golden ticket to get your brand on school supply lists.

The Parent Teacher Organisation (PTO) run school supply sales, where you can buy all of the supplies in a box, but they were held before we landed in the country. Luckily, the boys school have some spare boxes, so back to the school office we went to pay for them. Alice's supplies pack can be ordered online, which I did a week ago but it hasn't arrived yet, so we head out to try and purchase a few bits and bobs to keep her going. After accosting another Mum in Target, I now at least know what a 'pocket and brad folder' is. We've just got to source her band supplies now, there goes another couple of hundred dollars.

Shots

Even though this is Texas, I'm not talking about guns or tequilas, but vaccinations. I've always been an advocate of childhood vaccinations. When Alice was a baby there was some controversy surrounding the safety of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, and many parents chose not to vaccinate against these life-threatening diseases, unsurprisingly to me there was a measles outbreak in Wales last summer. Suffice to say, we had followed the immunisation program recommended in the UK and the three of them were completely up-to-date.

When I began the school enrollment process I discovered that they will not allow children to start school without fulfilling the 'Texas Minimum State Vaccine Requirements', and have the paperwork to prove it.  I compare their vaccine records with the list:

Four doses of Diphtheria/Tetanus/Pertussis, check.
Four doses of Polio, check.
Two doses of MMR, check.
Varicella (chicken pox), had it.
Two doses of Hepatitis A, no.
Two doses of Hepatitis B, no.

A quick Google search and we find a local pharmacy with a walk-in clinic that does the hepatitis vaccinations, so off we go. We walk to the back of the supermarket-sized pharmacy and check in to the clinic. Whilst we wait for our appointment, the pharmacist at the counter answers the phone "Hello Walgreen's, how can I help you feel well today?", an image springs to my mind of the pharmacy in St. Mellons where any kind of customer satisfaction is low on their list of priorities, and I have to stifle a laugh. When we get in to our appointment, the nurse informs me that she can't treat under 7's, Evan will have to see a paediatrician, but for $170 each (gulp) Alice and David get the first in the course of their Hepatitis vaccinations.

The search for a paediatrician for Evan then began. Of course, you can't see a doctor without medical insurance, and we're not "in the system" yet, it's going to be a week before we show up on the policy. Even with our insurance details we would have to wait 3 weeks for an appointment for the initial "well check". Our options were an emergency medical clinic (that'll be $240 please) or the Tarrant County Public Health Office, who will vaccinate uninsured kids for $25 but you have to be there before 8am and then anticipate a long wait.

Then the phone rings, it's the nurse from the boys school. Yes, they have a full-time nurse (and a police officer) at the school; why it can't be set up so she can administer childhood vaccinations is beyond me. They all need another dose of Diphtheria/Tetanus/Pertussis and Polio, because 'Texas State Law' states they must have had the final one of the series on or after their 4th birthday, but in the UK it's done between 3.5 and 4 years. They had it a few months too early and there is absolutely no flexibility in this, and no opting out without going through a lengthy process of appeals. I may be pro-immunistaion, but I still think medical intervention should be a choice.

We're up and out of the house by 7am to make it down to the Tarrant County Public Health Center in Watuaga. We arrive at 7:30am and there's already a long queue, it's half an hour before they open the doors.

Pretty isn't it, reminds me of Newport, except there's plenty of parking.

An hour later we're at the front of the queue. They take the kids' immuisation records and we we're given numbered tickets and forms to fill out.  By 9am we'd completed all the documentation, paid our $75, and were told to come back in 2 hours for the injections. We popped home for an hour and returned at 11am. Wait, wait, (thank goodness for devices and some friendly banter in the waiting room), wait, and at 12:45pm we are called in. The kids get their 'shots' and the hallowed official Tarrant County Immunisation Record sheets on to which they have transferred their entire immunisation history. We've just got to go back to their schools again now to drop them off to the nurses.

They are milking it; Rob has promised them a special treat of
their choosing if they are good and patient at the health clinic.

Neighbours

We had fantastic neighbours in Wales, as well as lots of friends nearby, who I could rely on for almost anything if I needed it. So it's reassuring that in less than two weeks almost all of our neighbours have knocked on the door or come over to us in the street to introduce themselves. I already have several sheets of paper with names, addresses and phone numbers attached to my fridge; offers of help, anything we need, and so on. Everyone is very friendly. One of the neighbours said "we are a front yard neighbourhood, when it gets cooler, everyone is out front" and there was talk of a bring-a-dish street gathering sometime in October, that's what they do here. David has already introduced himself to a nine-year old boy who lives three houses up and whose parents, bizarrely, lived in Penarth for a year, many years ago, whilst there is a 6 year old boy just around the corner who both Evan and David have palled up with. It's a promising start.

We're liking the neighbours, these were delicious!

Grapevine Lake

Today was a cloudy day so we thought we'd venture out to have a look at Grapevine Lake, which is a short 10 minute drive to the north of our house, I'm guessing it's why our area might be called Southlake. Meadowmere Park is one of the many parks around the edge of the lake. There was a playground, watersports centre and a small lake beach. Although it was overcast, it was still hot (up in the 90's) so the kids and Bess couldn't resist getting in.

I'm struggling to find a parking space again.

An interesting walk for Bess.

It's amazing how much fun you can have in a foot of water.

Bess is keeping a close eye on them from the beach.

School enrollment

This was a major paperwork exercise, Rob had to go out and buy a printer. No less than fourteen forms per child were required, as well as copies of all our ID's, school reports and vaccination records (that's another story, http://taff-to-texas.blogspot.com/2014/08/shots.html), which I diligently filled out and copied. We drove to their schools and dropped them off at the school offices. We also had to make a trip to the school district headquarters with a 'Proof of Residency' form and printouts of our ID's, house lease agreement (16 pages) and utility bills. They LOVE documents in this country. On the plus side, everyone was very helpful and friendly.

Cowtown Coliseum

As we're still pretending we're on holiday we might as well do some touristy things. A trip to the Fort Worth Stockyards it is then, to see some cowboys and cowgirls in action in the Cowtown Coliseum (http://www.fortworthstockyards.org/Business.aspx?bId=16&type=1).

Cowtown Coliseum

Lasso tricks

There's also a vintage railway that goes from Grapevine, which just down the road from Southake, to the Stock Yards. That's another item on the to-do list!

The Grapevine Vintage Railroad train

Stock Yards Station

Wheels

You're pretty stuck in America without a car. Rob had already organized the purchase of his car when he was here in July but our lack of a US bank account has meant that getting the keys to the car is turning out to be a slow and laborious process. Rob currently has a hire car paid for by his company, which he needs to get to work. Buying me a car was therefore a top priority.

With three kids and a dog I'm after something pretty big with lots of seats, and I quite fancied something big and ugly with corners, i. e. American looking. Rob did a lot of research which led us to the Ford garage, for what ended up being an entire morning. We test drove an "Explorer" (nice), "Expedition" (ridiculously big, the front of the bonnet was the height of my chin and you needed a step to get into it) and a 5L V8 Chevrolet "Tahoe" (a bit of a machine), but none of them had three proper seats on the second row, and just wouldn't really work for us. Scrap the "American looking" part of the brief.

On to the Honda garage, to look at an "Odyssey". It's spot on and ticking all the boxes, a "minivan" it is then. After more hours sat in the dealership, going to a different Honda garage to look at their stock, back to the original garage, more hours of sitting though paperwork, we have a car. It's got all the usual stuff, plus 3 features I really like: sliding back doors, blind spot sensors (the drivers mirror isn't convex so the blind spot is huge) and you can program your driving seat and wing mirror position to your key. If Rob was the last driver, when I unlock the car with my key it moves the seat and wing mirrors back in to my position. Tidy.

A car, hurray!

Dear HSBC...

Rob has decided to get his banking woes off his chest.

Banking

"Right kids, we've got to go to our appointment at the bank now". You can imagine the moans and groans about the prospect of this for three jet-lagged kids, especially as their banking experience extended to a tedious hour with the five of us squashed around a desk behind a screen in an HSBC branch in the UK when we attempted to set up an international bank account. HSBC were a complete farce, every time Rob phoned they told him something different and didn't send letters and forms they should have. Two months after our appointment with HSBC they still hadn't manged to set up a bank account for us in the US. Without a bank account Rob couldn't cash his pay cheques, or pay for things easily. Rob ended up buying expensive goods like the washing machine and tumble dryer with cash, and it's delaying the delivery of his car by weeks.

Rob decided to set up a US bank account with Wells Fargo as there are branches near his office and in Southlake. We bundled the complaining kids into the car then cruised up to the bank, where you can park right outside the door. As we entered we were greeted by a staff member waiting at the door who took our details and offered the kids a snack. After delighted nods and 'yes pleases', we are led over to a seating area in the foyer which had a fridge full of bottled water, tea & coffee urns, a pop-corn machine and an array of cookies and pretzels. In the meantime, Jack, our personal account manager, has come out to meet us. Once the kids had filled up bags of popcorn and chosen cookies, we were led into his office. Everyone was brought a chair and we did the necessary business, which took a while, they really love paperwork here. Throughout the process Jack chatted away, told us where to find better channels on the TV and gave the kids each a toy ball. We walked out with a temporary cheque (or I should say "check") book, whilst debit cards and proper cheque books will be with us in a few days. Job done.

We had to go back and pay in a cheque today. "Yeah! Can we get some popcorn? Please? Please?"

Bugs and bites

I have decided that the way to tell the difference between a Texan and a foreigner is to look at their legs. We must taste different as nobody else seems to be covered in big red itchy mosquito bites. I have now taken to lathering myself and the kids daily in insect repellent in an attempt to blend in.

On top of the obvious irritation, these little blighters may carry the West Nile Virus, and there are signs up all over the place warning us of this. The local city administration take this virus very seriously, they trap mosquitoes and test them for the virus, then spray the ground with pesticide within a half mile radius of a West Nile-positive sample. Today I received an email from our landlady telling us that they are spraying chemicals over a residential neighbourhood a few streets away from where we live. They issue this advice:

"During spraying residents are encouraged to follow these precautions:

• Avoid being outside during spraying; close windows and keep pets inside.
• If skin or clothes are exposed, wash them with soap and water.
• Rinse homegrown fruits and vegetables with water as a general precautionary measure.
• Cover small ornamental fish ponds.
• Because the chemical breaks down quickly in sunlight and water, no special precautions are suggested for outdoor swimming areas."

To go to these lengths this virus must be some relative of Ebola, and we're all covered in bites! Cue frantic googling. "Most cases of West Nile Virus are not serious and many people have no symptoms or mild flu-like symptoms, such as muscle aches and a fever." (http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/West-Nile-Virus/Pages/what-is-it.aspx). So we're not all going to die after all, unless we happen to walk into the pesticide spraying. I'll be eating my words when I catch this thing now.

I just call it "repellent" as it seems to work on humans and dogs too.

The mosquitoes are just regular mosquitoes, but other creepy crawlies seem to come in one size: big.

The "medium-sized" Differential Grasshopper
I found hanging around in the garden.

Grasshoppers are numerous and everywhere, you can't walk across grass without them leaping out of your way. And don't get me started on the cicadas, they also fit the bill of 'big' and have the added feature of 'loud'.

This looks like a peaceful evening stroll with the dog, but the cicadas are
making a noise in the trees overhead akin to someone strimming their lawn.

Here's a cicada doing an impressive "dying fly" routine.
His body is over and inch long and half an inch wide.

The Community Pool

The Texas climate being what it is, having a pool in our garden was on our "living the dream" wish list, but we couldn't get a rental house with a pool. However, as residents we do have access to lots of amenities at the Wentwood and Bent Creek Neighbourhood Centres.  Both of these centers have a pool, community center, tennis courts, and a playground. Bent Creek Neighbourhood Center also has a fitness suite, basketball and volleyball courts. (https://community.associawebsites.com/sites/TimarronHOA/Pages/Amenities.aspx). The facilities are run by the Timarron Owners Association, to which homeowners pay an annual fee for their maintenance. The pools close after the Labor day holiday, once all the kids are back at school, but we have a few weeks to enjoy them before then. The Wentwood Neighbourhood Center is just around the corner from our house, so we had to check it out yesterday...

Panoramic photos into the sun often come out a bit funny, but you get the gist.

He thinks he's some kind of superhero.

Alice looks like a "kid from fame"

Hong Kong Fooey now.

Having a diving board is the best.

The lifeguards are all local high school kids, one of whom lives next-door to
us. This one is showing the kids how to make the largest possible splash.

And again today (you get the picture)...

Evan decides to take the plunge.

I'm not a huge fan of swimming as it usually involves a fair amount of shivering, which doesn't equate to my idea of fun. I can confirm that swimming here, with a temperature of 38 degrees and a warm pool is actually quite enjoyable!