Hi AIMEE!! My husband and I were stationed there and LOVED it!!!
You will come back to the mainland with so many great stories. I actually feel Hawaii is where my heart belongs now. We were there for 3 years and I cant say enough good things about the locals there.
I did have my cocker spaniel when we went..I didnt have as much notice as you and even though he was upto date on everything he was quarentined fot the 5 MONTHS
we visited him everyday we could and brought him his favorites ,but I cried everytime we left him. The quaurentine is a kennel outside with rows of like kennels behind a gate ..you open it up and you can visit with your dog ..( there is a bench inside) we played with him and gave him love through out. He was a big furball by the time he came home..needed to be groomed..but other than that he was just fine.
Since you have so much time just be sure your girls have EVERYTHING done the way they want it.
We were stationed at Pearl Harbor and we could have waited for the new housing ..but we decided on a EWA beach housing which was the name of the complex was Iriquois Navy Housing. It was a house !! 4 bedrooms ..we only have a 1 child so we had 2 extra rooms.
I could go on and on about how great it was there..cant ya tell I miss it.
You will love it ..everyone had told me the schools were horrible..but we found that to be not so true..my son LOVED his school and the teachers..
I'm so excited for you!!