www.alternative-hawaii.com

Good site to review.

Oahu is "the gathering place" very citified except for North

best for shows but chock a block way to crowded for me.

Prefer www.konaweb.com for the big island lots of variety

great beaches active volcanoes NP pretty awesome.

Usually stay in BBs around and rent a car www.stayhawaii.com

for best local vibe or for best deal www.priceline.com

Packages for the Hapuna Prince other great hotels under $1k

www.weather2travel.com Hawaii climate guides winter less rain

though Kona is mostly fine year around except for fall.

Happy Journey,

Hawaii is above the equator so the seasons are not reversed. In winter the temps will be a little cooler, depending on the location that cold mean 2 degrees or as much as 10 degrees difference.On some islands, in some locations there may be more rain in the winter. The Whales come in the winter months. All the things you listed as requirements can be found on any of the major islands,so my suggestion to you would be to get a Frommers or Fodors guide book that covers all the main islands, do some reading and get a feel for whcih island appeals right to you. Do don't depend or make decisions on heresay like "Oahu is too crowded" or "There's nothing to do on Kauai". These opinions may be true to some, but are not defintive.

Agree with iamq, you need to buy a guidebook or check one out of the library and read up a little, see which island(s) appeal to you, then come back on here and post what time of year you are coming, nightly budget to help posters make recommendations and how many people. Many folks recommend getting a condo if you will have children, less expensive but more important you will have more space.