working in florida as well as having kids

Hi, Colin!

If you're still around (since your initial post in May 2010) and want to move the wife and kids to Orlando, I can answer some of your questions.

1) Childcare: Please see my reply posted in October 2011. Topic: Childcare in Florida.
I want to add another childcare option. One parent works, and the other stays home to raise children. There are many reasons why these families do this. One of them is money. If you read my earlier reply, it costs tons of money even in Florida where the cost of living is relatively lower than, say, Los Angeles. Real estate is much cheaper. The $120,000 house I currently live in would have been assessed close to $1 million in California where I used to live.

2) You may want to check out these three U.S. based-websites:
city-data.com (for info about various areas even within Orlando itself);
realtor.com (for houses to buy or rent, prices, school districts, etc.) and;
monster.com (see what jobs are out there; searchable by zip code or U.S city).

3) Due to the crumbling economy in the U.S., more and more people have become unemployed. The U.S. Postal Service is cutting back its personnel and closing a number of post office locations through out the country.

My understanding is that the U.S. Postal Service is somewhat the same as the British Post Office but offers far fewer products. Ours does not have banking services except selling money orders and taking passport applications. If your experience is in the British Post Office's insurance, telecommunications and operator's licensing and passport products and services, you have to do more research in these industries as they are privatized in the U.S. This means there are more companies and competitors.

Wishing you and your family the best of luck.

Prajna