Into the Mystic: The New House!

Here's the long awaited, photo-heavy new house post! Some backstory- We "pay" for housing by using the Housing Allowance given by the Navy- you can choose to live in town and get the most bang for your buck or live on base like we do- but then you give them all of the allowance. Since Lyle is a Senior Enlisted Petty Officer we get a decent chunk of money for housing. It's not enough to make me want to live out in town and pay rent, deal with utilities, etc. But I do want to get the most we can.

We moved to Hawaii in October of 2011. When we arrived here, the Navy offered us a house in a less than desirable area out in town. It was around 1100 square feet and older, ugly and would involved commuting in traffic both ways, everyday. We said "no thanks" and put our names on a waiting list for the Senior Enlisted Housing that we are eligible to live in. We then went to see what housing the Air Force had to offer- they offered a small but centrally located duplex on the Air Force Base. While it was a place to live and the location was perfect, we were grossly overpaying for it. We lived there for an entire year, but in July I finally received a call from Navy Housing- there was a house opening up on Ford Island (the neighborhood/area we desperately wanted) and would be available in November- right when our Lease with Hickam was up! I said yes before I even thought twice. I knew that moving in November would mean moving without Lyle, but I was determined to get into this neighborhood no matter what. It was worth all the stress and hard work- our new house is amazing. It is a single-family, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, 2 car garage piece of heaven. We have a cute little backyard with a large covered patio. There is so much natural light and we almost always have a cool breeze. The dog and cat love having all the space. Here's the place: