Moving to Chapel Hill/Triangle area - spam me!

[alfabetsoup]

Hello NC mamas! We are moving to the Raleigh area in about 6 weeks. I think we'll be looking to live in Chapel Hill, I've heard it's very nice! We are moving from London, DH is British and I'm American and we've lived in the UK for 4 years so really aren't familiar with any of the children's programs in the US. Neither of us has ever lived in the NC area either.

We have a 2.5 yr old DD and a 10 week old DD. I'd like any information you can give me on:

1)Mom and toddler groups, library story hour, etc.
2)Toddler activities like gymboree or yoga - anything that can be done with an infant in tow, or Saturday activities that DH can do with DD1.
3)Preschools - DD1 goes to a great preschool 2 mornings a week and she really enjoys it.

I want to get our social life up and running pretty quickly, we are very busy here and I'm worried about having nothing to do and no mommy friends to hang out with! Any help you all can give will be much appreciated.

Thank you!

[sweetpeasmama]

Hi! We are also going to be moving to that area and have been looking stuff up and researching differents areas and things. This website might be helpful- http://www.chillkids.com/ and the Chapel Hill library seems to have a ton of stuff happening for little ones! The children's museum Kidzu in Chapel Hill is small, but perfect for younger children, it's clean and beautifully done.

If you do a search on this forum, I am sure you will come across things that may be helpful. Good luck! I am sure your mind is just swimming!

[Gunter]

welcome!

the library time at chapel hill library may be great. i only went once and it was fine. the one in southern durham at parkwood is horrible now and not worth attending.

my friend runs a preschool in durham for toddlers called morning glory. there is a yoga-mama class in cary.

[beanma]

grrr lost a long post.

My dd2 loves the chapel hill public library (http://chapelhillpubliclibrary.org/) story time. I don't go in with her (she doesn't want me to) so I can't give a more thorough review.

We've done various yoga classes. There will probably be something for you when you get here. Carrboro Yoga Company (http://www.mycyco.com/) usually has a kids/family class. There are several other yoga places, too.

The Chapel Hill Mother's Club (http://www.chapelhillmothersclub.org/) website has an extensive listing of preschools and a lot of other info, too. It's open to all stripes of moms. I haven't really been invloved, but I know several cool moms who have.

The Chapel Hill Durham Alternative Parenting (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChapelHill_Durham_AlternativeParenting/) group on Yahoo focuses on AP topics and has loosely organized playdates.

If you're nursing there are a lot of wonderful LLL groups (http://www.chapelhilll.org/Home.html)in the area (http://www.lllofnc.org/Groups/durham.html).

hth

[RubyJi]

Hey, this isn't a parenting resource, but in case you'd like to learn more about local issues in Chapel Hill, I'd love for you to visit a website I run: http://OrangePolitics.org

See you around town!

[NC EcoMaMa]

I second Morning Glory... :)
I am the local API Leader, actually co-leader with my hubby Mark, who is also from the UK. (Fareham / Hampshire)

Welcome to the area. Maybe you could join us on some of our outings?

www.triangleapi.org

[NC EcoMaMa]

Hey, this isn't a parenting resource, but in case you'd like to learn more about local issues in Chapel Hill, I'd love for you to visit a website I run: http://OrangePolitics.org

See you around town!



Thanks for the link Ruby! Veggie here too. :)

[MyGrassIsBlue]

Hey there! H and I are moving to NC soon. We were supposed to be going to Charlotte, but the plans might be changing and it may be Raleigh instead. We'll know soon, hopefully.

As a pretty crunchy, liberal kind of family do you think we'll like Raleigh better than Charlotte?

[beanma]

MyGrassIsBlue, I think you'll like Raleigh but they both have some crunchy and liberal that you can find. Charlotte's county, Mecklenburg, had a higher percentage vote for Obama than Wake (Raleigh's home county), but Charlotte's republican mayor was a candidate for governor. We elected his female Dem opponent, though :). Wake county is next to Durham county (highest percentage for Obama in the state at 76%) and Orange (where Chapel Hill and Carrboro are which had the second highest percentage for Obama in the state at 72). Mecklenburg Co is surrounded by red. So basically I think the RTP (triangle) area of NC is more liberal/crunchy than the Charlotte metro area, but Raleigh, itself, is not the most liberal/crunchy point in the triangle. That would be either Durham or Chapel Hill/Carrboro depending on how you wanna discuss it.

Personally both cities are too big for me, but I don't like big. If you're coming from NYC, of course, they're provincial! Where are you coming from, btw?

Oh, I just probably clarify that I live in the triangle in Chapel Hill, but go to Charlotte often as DH's fam all lives there. If you really want crunchy consider Chapel Hill/Carrboro and my Durham friends would say Durham. We're overrun with organic food here and wonderful stuff. Chapel Hill and Carrboro are very crunchy small college towns so the crunchy is less watered down by the mainstream. Raleigh and Charlotte probably have nearly as much (maybe), but they've got a whole lot more mainstream. Durham has a lot to offer and is a very cool mid-sized city with a blue collar base, Duke U, medicine, and high tech. Charlotte has banking and churches and pro sports (NASCAR!) and there's gonna be more folks going to the churches now that Wachovia went down the tubes. Raleigh has state government, colleges, high tech and hockey(!) and plenty of churches, too, but maybe a shade fewer than Charlotte. Charlotte was the home of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker (http://moonbeammcqueen.wordpress.com/2007/07/23/my-mascara-is-running-for-tammy-faye/) after all.

[MyGrassIsBlue]

We are coming from St. Louis. H works for New Belgium Brewing, and we will be bringing the beer to NC. If you are not familiar with them, you should check out the website (http://www.newbelgium.com/). They are wind powered and employee owned, HUGE on sustainable business practices.

We live in the city now, and are looking forward to a more rural feel. H needs easy access to interstates and will be traveling all over the state, but we don't want to feel like we are in a big city. We are sports fans, but not Nascar. Hopefully we'll know soon what is going on. We'll be moving with a toddler and a brand new baby. My 34 wk pg self is anxious to know what is going on, but I have no control over this so I have to let go and let what is meant to happen happen. That's normally easy for me, but it is certainly a challenge right now.

[pinky]

I don't know much about Charlotte (I live in Durham), but the Triangle (Ral-Dur-CH) is a great place to find urban resources but live in a more rural/small town feel. And there's easy access to 40 and 85 (the two big highways that traverse the state).

[beanma]

I'd go for the Triangle. I know DH would much rather live in Raleigh than Charlotte. If you want to live out in the country that's easier in the Triangle in my opinion, but that maybe because we have to drive all the way across Charlotte whenever we visit DH's mom. Charlotte is pretty sprawling when you have to do that.

[lizabird]

I'd vote for the Triangle area too, rather than Charlotte.
I grew up in St. Louis. Woohoo! I love it here, we're in Chapel Hill.

:)

[beanma]

Not sure what your DH will be doing to bring New Belgium here, but I think the Triangle would love some New Belgium. Is it already distributed here? I think I've seen it. The triangle is a very foodie friendly area and likewise loves good beer. There are three (I think, does Tylers brew?) microbreweries/brewpubs in Chapel Hill/Carrboro. I can find three listed in Charlotte online, although there may be more. Charlotte's population is roughly 10 times Chapel Hill/Carrboro. If the powers that be want your input I would consider recommending Durham! Very foodie town, bigger than Chapel Hill/Carrboro and very welcoming to new businesses like that. Raleigh would be okay, too, but Durham is really on the upswing and is undergoing a huge arts revival. Anyway, people will travel from any point in the triangle to another point, but going to Charlotte from the triangle would take more planning and be a bigger trip. You can do it in a long day, but it's not some place you would just drive for supper. People would and do drive from Chapel Hill to Raleigh and vice versa for a night out all the time.

Go Triangle! You'll be able to be in a big city or small town or rural. Definitely triangle! I mean, I know there are some loverly Charlotte moms on MDC and I wish them no offense, but DH would have a breakdown if he had to move back to Charlotte!

Come visit!

ETA: I see you're 34 wk pg. Chapel Hill has the state's only free standing birth center which is run by midwives. There are some wonderful homebirth midwives in the area here, too.

[annettemarie]

Even though the OP said spam me :) please PM her if you are offering her a resource that you will somehow benefit from. Thanks!