We moved over to Oz in December. My husband was offered a job over here and it was somewhere we had always fancied living temporarily. Our daughter was already enrolled in a private school and we had not much more than 24hours to make the decision about whether to come over, as we had to give notice to the school or forfeit the next term's fees.

Our daughter is only just 4yo and saw my mum very regularly, at least 3 times a week. My DH is a Kiwi and his mum died last year. Steffi still talks a lot about her 'Ra', as she calls her, and her coursin, who is only 3weeks younger than she is. We talk to them all pretty regularly on the phone and email them but there is no way any of them will visit us. We are here until August and to be honest the time is flying. My husband came out in October and won't come back to the UK until October.

We had also spent most of the weeks leading up to goin to school getting Steffi ready for it and making it seem exciting. All of a sudden we were tyring to make Australia sound exciting instead (not difficult since we were so excited ourselves).

Will you be moving temporarily or permanently? WIll your mum fly out to see you all? A friend of mine moved to COnnecticut almost two years ago and is now contemplating staying for a third year as they love it so much. Her children are also younger, though, about 6 and 4 now. Her parents visit 2-3 times per year and they get two trips home pa paid for by her husband's company too.

When we moved out here friends also moved and they brought their cats (cost 1800 quid to ship them both and quarantine). They used to laugh that the cats had swapped personalities on the way over as the unaffectionate one was suddenly affectionate and vice versa. Unfortunately one of the cats was knocked over and killed within a couple of months and it came at a time when they were under a lot of stress (new school, new friends, mum trying to find her feet, dad not knowing whether job would last) and the cat dying was like losing another link with home. They were all devestated. My friend said that actually the kids seemed to cope better than the parents.

Sorry, I have gone on a bit here and not even about the right country but it is all so fresh in my mind. I don't regret the move at all, even though it is not a good one financially. I love the life here and I'm glad of the experience. Financially I hope we'll recover when we get back to the UK; it's extremely unlikely the same work opportunity would come up again.

My situation is a little different in that my daughter was born in the states after my husband and I had been living here for six years. All of our relatives are in the UK and it is very important to me that that she have contact. Although she is still a baby there are lots of phone calls, she has her own web sit where I regularly post news and news photos for her cousins to see and on our next visit home we plan to set grandma up with a computer so we can have video phone calls.

My husband and I have no regrets about moving here (we're in New York), it's a wonderful opportunity for work. As your children are older I would suggest some serious research into the school system as that is the one thing that I owuld consider returning to the UK for.

Although it may be a difficult adjustment visits from family and trips home will be something to really look forward to.

Good Luck

trickiewoo - our eldest child was born in new york (north shore hospital in manhasset - we lived in great neck) after we had been living there 3 years. that was 19 years ago though and communications were not what they are now - we had to make do with letters and occasional (very expensive!) phone calls - you are lucky!
her birth precipitated our return - when she was 15 months - not having NHS support, or family, made me, at least, feel very vulnerable. personal security was also a factor - there are a lot of guns in america - many of them in the hands of people who are less than stable.

floridamum, schooling is also a major factor to consider. i chat on a games site to a mother of 4 in north carolina and she is home educating her eldest (aged 8) because she is not happy with the state (public!) schools there. (her others are all pre-school).
they don't start grade 1 in the US until after they are 6 - prior to that they are in kindergarten - your girls will probably have to be put in with older children - could they cope?
(a girl of 15 (Y10) at my daughter's school moved to america earlier this year, and has just returned because her educational level meant she needed to go in a senior high school class with 18 year olds and she didn't want to.)

it's not all negative, we did have a brilliant time there for 4 years and we lived in an expensive place with cold winters. housing in florida is quite cheap and it's so much warmer than here! (and in orlando i can imagine you will be turning visitors away for most of the year, they will be lining up to see you!!!)
trickiewoo's suggestion of a computer for nanny and a webcam is a great idea, although saying goodbye each time might be hard...
it's not a decision to take lightly and your daughters can't really imagine how it would be to live in another country, so the decision is firmly in your hands; if your prospects are really good and you are basically very keen to go yourselves you will have to talk the place up a lot and talk down the distance, etc.
and while leaving your cats would be another major wrench (could nanny possibly take them on if they can't come? or a friend? so you would still be in touch? i didn't think there was quarantine going into the US, but if there is it would be a lot for elderly cats to cope with) maybe once you were settled you could consider getting a kitten for them...

when we first went to the US we did it quite blithely, having rented accommodation here and no kids, but when we got there (minnesota, not new york initially) all the other brits who had come out with the same company had kids and mortgages and they all managed pretty well - the oldest kids we knew were younger than yours but some of them were school age; and one of the families is still there, 2 kids married, one in the army and first grandchild born last year! (they live in kentucky now.)

is the job with an american company? will they give you lots of support and guidance in choosing where to live, setting up home, finding schools, establishing a credit record (UNBELIEVABLY important!!!), opening bank accounts, making friends etc? if they will that makes such a difference...
since you first posted 4 weeks ago i do hope all this is not too late!

oh - it was Oz that had the quarantine - i don't think america does have it but it is a long flight. has the vet said if the cats can come?