Anyone live in the Norfolk area? Tell me about it!

[nfowife]

DH and I are seriously considering choosing Norfolk as his next work assignment. We wouldn't leave here for another 14 months or so, but we need to start pursuing our options there now to secure a job for him (he's military). Anyhow, if anyone lives in the area I'd love to hear about it. What are the nicer places to live? DD will be around 3 and DS will be around 1 so I would be interested in knowing preschool and mother's morning/day out activities as well. Is there good shopping and restaurants? How is the traffic? How far is it to drive to DC?
Anything you all can tell me would be great!

[Mommy Of A Little Angel]

DH grew up in Virginia Beach and we lived there for about a year after we were married. We didn't have DD yet, but I can tell you some information about the area. His dad was Navy and so were two of his brothers. There is a HUGE military presence. Pretty much everyone there has some affiliation. I would live in Norfolk, but rather Virginia Beach or Chesepeake (much nicer areas). It is about a 3 hour drive to DC, 45 minutes to Colonial Williamsburg, 1 1/2 hours to Richmond.

The shopping depends on what you are used to. I didn't like it but I came from the NJ/NY/PA area where there were tons of malls! MacArthur is the best mall in the area, but there are about 5 others. There are a lot of restaurants there so I don't think you will ever have a problem finding a place to eat. There are GREAT seafood retaurants down by the ocean. The ocean is very accessible and last I was there they were trying to revamp the "boardwalk" area.

I am not sure about schools, but DH went through the school system there and turn out great! I will ask him about the best places to live/go to school when he gets home later. There are a lot of nice neighborhoods and such. I can't remember the specific names, but again, DH will probably be able to add more insight!

Oh, there are a lot of really nice parks and such to take kids out to. Hope that helps so far and I will update tonight with anything that DH can add.

ETA: I enjoyed living there for the year that we did and I know that DH loved growing up there. It would probably be a good choice in places to live!

[wolverine2]

We lived in Norfolk for a year. We actually left because we weren't happy there, but it had to do more with who we are than anything wrong with Norfolk, and I think it would be very different for someone in the military. (We love New England and weren't happy anywhere else).

We lived in Norfolk in the Ghent neighborhood, which is a really great neighborhood- I wouldn't have lived anywhere else in Norfolk. Virginia Beach is nice- I worked in the schools there and they are great- better than Norfolk's. I didn't have a child yet, so don't know about those options. Lots of restaurants and shopping available...

PM me if you have more questions!