Things I never thought I'd do ...

Oahu, Hawaii ~ Google Maps

Moving to Hawaii is clearly on the list of things I never thought I'd do, that's a given.  Sell my home in the current market, also on that list, along with part with my "no more minivan" luxury car, leave behind my faithful four-legged friends, sell all of my furniture (especially my one-year-old, I finally, after 36 years, have a matching bedroom set, set), take a 16-hour flight across five timezones (with two children!), be apart from my husband and oldest for an undetermined amount of time ... oh, and move to Hawaii, site unseen, blind, without prior knowledge, never visiting, and having never been further West than Illinois.

With all of this, the one new experience that still baffles me a bit, and makes me just a smidge nervous of all of our modern technology, is the fact that we have not only found the town in which we'd like to reside in, but the actual house, via the world wide web.  

Google maps is an amazing, slightly scary, tool.  With it, we mapped out Oahu, visited beaches, national parks, various towns, and took walks (yes, walks) around each neighborhood that showed promise - and good school systems.  

See that red balloon with the "A"?  That's Mililani Town.  Google map it for yourself. Then "drop the pin" and get a street view of where we'll be living on island.  Heck, google map our new address, Wikao Street, and take a walk around our new neighborhood.  It's quite lush, isn't it? And did you see the basketball courts and playgrounds?  The kids are really looking forward to living in a neighborhood setting.

If google mapping your way around an unknown island, trying to get a feel of where you want to start out your family adventure isn't 'out there' enough for you, then you'll love this ... we skype'd our new rental house.  


For those of you not familiar with skype, it's a video calling service, and it's free. The kids enjoy skyping with their Neecy in Florida, and even with their godparents the next town over.  But skype a house?  Now that is definitely something I would have never imagined I'd do, yet I did exactly that.


Our new landlord (a very cool local islander) took us for a skype tour, inside and out, kitchen to bedrooms, and bathroom to lanai.  She gave us a visual tour of the house, and the neighborhood.  We met her, and her multitude of canine friends, and she met us.  We even took her for a tour of our home so she could feel comfortable about the way we would keep her property.  Then we took her outside ... to winter, to which she said, "no wonder you want to move to Hawaii!"

So, there she is, our tropical oasis, home away from ... wait ... it's just, well, home.  And one more reason we're turning day dreams into reality and leaving to live an ...

Aloha State of Mind