Hawaii here we come!!!

[momofrowdyboys]

Hi everyone,
We will be stationed @ Hickam in January. I would like to know about the housing rental market, the school districts, anything a mom of a 7 yr., 4 yr. and 1 yr old should know. I know that is pretty broad. I tried looking it up but, the internet has way too many sites and it is a mish-mash and can't always give you human experience.:thankyou: Ladies

[HMDocsLady]

WELCOME to our little Island Paradise! Not sure about schools since DD is only 15 mo. Are you planning to live on base or out in town? Housing out in town can be VERY expensive for what you will get on base. We originally looked at renting, but decided to go with base since it is pretty nice and new (we are Navy and live on Ford Island). I know they are building all sorts of new housing on Hickam right now - so it might be ready for when you get here.

There is one CD store here, but it is pretty expensive. There are several other baby stores and they are building a babies r us. We only get gas on base since it is about 25-30 cents more expensive out in town. Thogh Walmart and Sams are building a gas station right now and there is a costco gas station - those always have very very long line - like up to an hour wait. We do shop at the NEX and Commissary for the most part, but we do have Walmart, Costco, Sams Club and a new Target. You just have to shop around for the best deals. Groceries though for the most part are best at the Comm. Since we have all of the services here and they are all pretty close, if we are looking for a big ticket item, we chack out all of the bases to check prices and selections. You'd be suprised at the differences! Heck, we will even shop gorceries at two comms depending on what we need - the Hickam fruits and veggies are better, but Pearl's meat is better (IMO).

There are a couple terrific Mom's groups here - check out meetup.com. The group I belong to is for kiddos younger tahn yours, but I know of others that are just as good. The Beach on Hickam is probably my fav on the island, clean, calm, not too crowded.

Once you get here let us know and we can meet up! I'd be happy to show you around the island and introduce you to a couple Mamas who have kiddos your kids age.

[monstersmom]

Hey There! :yeahthat: I would most definitely agree with everything she said. Housing is better on post and the great thing is that it is all privatized so you can live on most of the housing areas from any service. All though the Navy housing expects you to keep it in perfect condition:banghead: We shop groceries at the Hickam comm for the most part. We are Vegetarian and they have the best selection for us. There are tons of mama groups like honolulu mommies and Hawaii hot mamas! although I have been bad and haven't gone to any of the play groups:blush: There are tons of fun things to do out here especially beachin it up. We love the Hickam beach as well. I have heard schools here suck all though my DS isn't in school. Honestly if I was going to be here when he was in school i would most definitely home school but I want to do that anyway! If you have any other questions feel free to PM me I have been here a little while so for the most part i know my way around. :roflmbo:

[momofrowdyboys]

Thank you for the great info! I don't know where we will be living, my dh and i would probably prefer off base. We will have to find a hippy type who will let me tear up a big section of lawn to garden. We live in Dover, De right now and live smack dab in the middle of an amish community. So I have taken a page out of their book and live a more simple life. Still modern but, not as much as before living here. I can't wait to get there and meetup with ya'll. I hope you don't mind if i add ya'll to my friends list. Do the school systems stink even on base? Talk to you ladies later, BTW sorry for not checking faster my sis is in town!:thumbsup:

[monstersmom]

you can teach me some lessons for sure... I want to plant a garden and simplify my life a bit more. We will have to get together when you get here. I will show you around as I am sure you won't have a car as soon as you get here! Hit me up and we will figure it all out!

[jnicole]

I'm not at Hickam but we are wanting to get stationed there next June. momofrowdyboys are you going there to start up the F22 unit? Best of luck.

[monkeysohana]

Aloha and welcome in! We live off of base (Navy stationed at Pearl Harbor) and it's EXPENSIVE and we live in a *condo* if you want anything that has a yard at all, you are going to have to live a decent distance from base (with traffic) and, even then, all of those communities have pretty strict standards of what is allowed and what is not (you can't even have a clothes line in most of them!) So, I recommend reconsidering living on base, Hickham is VERY nice as far as bases here go. I would LOVE to live there. It's a beautiful little community with everything you need, including the best baby/kid beach on the island IMO! :)

And check out hawaii.momslikeme.com - there are about 8,000 mamas (and a few papas) online there and so there is ALWAYS a play date, meet up, or family friendly event you can get to :) (And they do great giveaways for movie pre-screenings, fair tickets, etc!) And it's a great place to ask for advice on everything from the best places to eat to what to do about a household problem :) It's been a great resource for us here!

[momofrowdyboys]

sistdrst- that sounds great, i will definately like a meetup!

jnicole-we are weather, yikes so we are going back to screaming jets. we were at Shaw before Dover. we could not even talk at times, it was so loud.

monkeysohana- that stinks about the clotheline since i am all about saving money and the environment.


i am really hoping i find just what i am looking for off base. If not then i guess i at least should qualify for a 4 bedroom since we have 3 children.:drif: i am sick of our cramped house. we came here with one child and one on the way and have completely outgrown our space.

[momofrowdyboys]

monstermom you just changed your name on me right as i was typing to you:roflmbo: