[AmbitiousSaver]

We'd be staying at the Hale Koa... 2 rooms cause we need 3 beds (one for DH & I, one for the girls (8&7), one for my son, and a crib for the baby. For his rank, it is $108/nt per room but that is TOTAL... no hotel taxes since its a government hotel... so that is how I arrived at $216 (which is the standard low floor room)

We'd be leaving from ORF to HNL and wanting to travel around April 10th and fly back on April 18th

Not sure about the eating out... we tend to overestimate to be on the safe side. We try to fly with Delta just cause that is who we have mileage awards with them and that is where I have the free ticket and only have to buy 5 tickets then... and they have a flight from Norfolk to Atlanta then Atlanta to Honolulu which is pretty straight forward which makes it easier with 4 kids.

The only reason I am hesitant about the school thing is... we'll be taking the kids out in September for a week to take the trip to Missouri... so they'll be missing 6 days there.... then we'd like to at least be in Hawaii for a week... so they'd miss an additional 6-8 days... and they can only miss so much otherwise we get this nasty letter in the mail saying they may be held back for missing too many days.

Anyhow, if you know how we can do this cheaper than 8K, I'd appreciate any insight since it could make it more within our reach. We don't travel too much... we've never taken a trip to Missouri JUST to see DH's family... we had to move cross country once so we saw them once from VA to CA and then again when we went to CA to VA... but that was it. And we only flew back to Hawaii once in 6 years and only cause my Dad said he'd pay for the airfare.

Oh and cooking at my Dad and Aunt's (he lives with his sister since she takes care of him) isn't really an option cause my Aunt is OCD and anal retentive... I didn't even cook when I lived with them. She made the meals and assigned to me what was okay and not okay to eat (which is probably why I tried to control the fridge when I first got married to DH). When we last went there they invited us out to eat and for breakfast and would cover the meals when they did so, but thats more of an occasional thing.