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Hi there!
I am a mom to 7 children 10 years old and under and am considering a move to Los Alamos from NH. My husband would be working at the Lab.
Since we would be coming from so far away, the prospect is quite scary! I do have a friend also from NH living there already to soften the blow.
Everything I have read about LA sounds wonderful but I wonder if we could fit into this area as a large family? Most of what I have read says this is a town out of the 1950s (Pleasantville / Stepford wives) and I wonder if 7 children would be a bit of a sore spot w/ other who have probably 2 or 3 tops. We would also need to rent for a while and I am having difficulty finding places available close to LA that would fit us. (I see mostly 2 bedrooms ) We would only need a 3 bedroom. We currently have a 4bedroom and our children relentlessly congregate together using only 3 lol. Being on the East Coast, I am not as <blown away> by the rental prices and homes as some may be as we also have very high home prices here in NH.
I'm not quite sure how to ask this next question so I'll just put it out there as it comes to mind lol. But what can we expect to find and experience in LA? Here, I am used to 4 seasons. What are the seasons there like? Thus far , my research as shown mild to cold winters and warm to hot summers. What about Fall and spring? What are those like? Do you usually have snow at Christmas? Here, apple picking is HUGE in the fall. Do you guys have any seasonal activities that we could make a tradition w/ our kids? I guess really anything you could tell me as far as the good/bad/ugly I would appreciate in addition to if it is realistic for a large homeschooling family from NH to be able to fit in well in LA? TIA!
The seasons are changing; spring and winter have become milder. LA is at a higher elevation than the surrounding area, though, so it may still get snow in the winters. But Santa Fe hardly gets any snow anymore. And spring used to be a dramatic mix of bright 70-degree weather, blizzards, hailstorms, changing from one day to the next. Now it's very mild by comparison. Fall is glorious, with the aspens changing color, and the summer temps finally drop.
And btw, I hope your kids aren't afraid of lightning. You have been warned.
Seasonal activities: the summer ceremonial season in the Native American communities--open to the public. There's a summer calendar, with each community performing a prayer/dance ceremony on their specific feast day. The Christmas season is similar: ceremonies going from the night before Xmas on and off through "Kings' Day"--Epiphany. It's the summer ceremonies that have a big festival atmosphere, though, with traditional art and craft vendors coming from all the other communities, gathering together to sell their wares at each feast day.
And then, there's Indian Market in Santa Fe: one long weekend of very high-quality and expensive art that takes over all of downtown Santa Fe. There's an accompanying Native film festival. There is also Spanish Market a few weeks before, and International Folk Art Market in early July.
LA has a science Exploratorium for the kids, and a nice local art gallery/crafts store. I think living in town would be very convenient commute-wise. People do live in the villages around the bottom of the hill, and in Santa Fe, and commute up the hill, but why do that if you don't have to? Imagine the traffic from all the employees driving up and down the hill; the lab even staggers everyone's work hours to avoid total gridlock on that hill, but the road is still very busy during that extended commute period.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 08-17-2016 at 01:21 PM..
Los Alamos is a great place to raise a family! Granted, I fit into the mold of the ideal resident. I'm married, both my wife and I work at the lab, and I have two children.
People in Los Alamos are pretty friendly but tend not be 'all up in you business'. Families the size of mine are common in LA but ones with seven or more are far from unheard of. The rental market is pretty tight right now so housing might be hard to come by. 'Barracks style' houses might seem like a good deal (low rents) but be wary of them since they are generally small and many have not been maintained well. However, a well maintained converted barracks style duplex may fit a large family nicely. Well maintained may be the tricky part. Also, finding a house with enough bathrooms for a large family might be difficult. I'd recommend looking on North Mesa, Barranca Mesa, and White Rock.
White Rock is a suburb of Los Alamos with little more than homes for Lab employees. Still, it is only halfway down the mountain and you get more house for your money than LA (most real estate sights list these homes as being IN LA so read the listing. You might also check out Virtual Los Alamos, Welcome to Virtual Los Alamos .
We do indeed have four distinct seasons here. Winters can be cold (for NM), Summers can be hot, Spring can be extremely windy, and Fall is just plain amazing. All of the seasons will have a very bright New Mexico sun. We get plenty of snow here but it doesn't stick around. The sun will come out and melt much of it within a few days. It is a gamble to have snow on Christmas for this reason.
Winter is about skiing for many here since we have a ski hill in town.
I love living here but there are downsides as well. The biggest is the size and remoteness of the town. I often go to Santa Fe or even ABQ for goods & services I can't get here. There are other negatives but the positives far outweigh the negatives to me.
P.S. There are plenty of homeschoolers in this town.
Thank for the detailed response. I am SO relieved to hear there are other large families there and a homeschooling community! Where we live now , large families are few and far between and we tend to be some what of a spectacle when out shopping lol so it would be great to find some other large families.
Thanks, for the link! lots of great info on there. I was able to e-mail a couple potential rentals and ask some questions
Another question I thought of after someone else mentioned it...does NM really offer college scholarships to those students who graduate from high school there, go directly into college, and maintain a specific GPA?
The seasons are changing; spring and winter have become milder. LA is at a higher elevation than the surrounding area, though, so it may still get snow in the winters. But Santa Fe hardly gets any snow anymore. And spring used to be a dramatic mix of bright 70-degree weather, blizzards, hailstorms, changing from one day to the next. Now it's very mild by comparison. Fall is glorious, with the aspens changing color, and the summer temps finally drop.
And btw, I hope your kids aren't afraid of lightning. You have been warned.
Seasonal activities: the summer ceremonial season in the Native American communities--open to the public. There's a summer calendar, with each community performing a prayer/dance ceremony on their specific feast day. The Christmas season is similar: ceremonies going from the night before Xmas on and off through "Kings' Day"--Epiphany. It's the summer ceremonies that have a big festival atmosphere, though, with traditional art and craft vendors coming from all the other communities, gathering together to sell their wares at each feast day.
And then, there's Indian Market in Santa Fe: one long weekend of very high-quality and expensive art that takes over all of downtown Santa Fe. There's an accompanying Native film festival. There is also Spanish Market a few weeks before, and International Folk Art Market in early July.
LA has a science Exploratorium for the kids, and a nice local art gallery/crafts store. I think living in town would be very convenient commute-wise. People do live in the villages around the bottom of the hill, and in Santa Fe, and commute up the hill, but why do that if you don't have to? Imagine the traffic from all the employees driving up and down the hill; the lab even staggers everyone's work hours to avoid total gridlock on that hill, but the road is still very busy during that extended commute period.
Thank you for this awesome list of activities! I am feverishly scouring google to find more info! lol
Los Alamos is a great place to raise a family! Granted, I fit into the mold of the ideal resident. I'm married, both my wife and I work at the lab, and I have two children.
The rental market is pretty tight right now so housing might be hard to come by. 'Barracks style' houses might seem like a good deal (low rents) but be wary of them since they are generally small and many have not been maintained well. However, a well maintained converted barracks style duplex may fit a large family nicely. Well maintained may be the tricky part. Also, finding a house with enough bathrooms for a large family might be difficult. I'd recommend looking on North Mesa, Barranca Mesa, and White Rock.
.
Also, is there a specific place to find these barracks rental listings or would they be listed in w/ the regular houses/ town homes/ apartment listings?
does NM really offer college scholarships to those students who graduate from high school there, go directly into college, and maintain a specific GPA?
Yes. I have met a few students participating. The Websites:
I do not know of specific sites to find barracks style listings. I would recommend calling a realtor since finding information online is surprisingly hard. North Community is the neighborhood in town with a lot of barracks style duplexes. The Eastern Area and Western Area are also neighborhoods with a number of converted duplexes. Pay attention to the number of bathrooms! There are a lot of 3-1s here and you probably know already but one bathroom is NOT enough for a family. North Mesa, Barranca Mesa, and White Rock are more likely to have single family homes that are large enough. They will also be slightly newer, 70s & 80s vs 50s & 60s, so are more likely to have modern conveniences like more than one bathroom.
Thank you for this awesome list of activities! I am feverishly scouring google to find more info! lol
Here's the summer ceremonial calendar for northern NM. You shouldn't have any trouble finding Indian Market (you can also Google: Southwest Association for Indian Art, which organizes the market every year), but I thought you might not find this one so easily:
Here's the summer ceremonial calendar for northern NM. You shouldn't have any trouble finding Indian Market (you can also Google: Southwest Association for Indian Art, which organizes the market every year), but I thought you might not find this one so easily:
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TIA!
so it would be great to find some other large families. 
