I was kind of surprised you moved back to the mainland so soon after upgrading your house in HI. Would be interested to hear more of the story there, if you care to share. Regardless, it looks like the move has been a positive one for you. Nothing wrong with taking the slow road to FIRE if that helps you all have a happier/more balanced life.
Yes, it is not normal to buy a house, fix it up and then move out of state, keeping the house as a rental. However, we have done this 3 times.
When we moved to Hawaii in 2015, we did not have any kids. Our son was born in 2017 and that changed things a little. My wife is from the Denver area. In a perfect world, we would live in the Denver metro area for lifestyle and to be closer to family. Preferably within one hour of her parents and sister.
The problem with that plan is that Colorado is ranked #49 in the country for funding in higher education. The Denver area is probably the worst place for me to build wealth because it is the worst combination of low pay and high cost of living for my occupation (college instructor). If we ever wanted to move back to Denver, my wife would have to work full-time because I would not make enough money to support our lifestyle. She does not want to work full-time with a two-year old.
A job opened up at Pueblo Community College. According to Sperlings Cost of Living Calculator, Pueblo is 34% cheaper than Denver. My pay would be the same in Pueblo or Denver, which is 52K. This gives us the opportunity to move back to Colorado and my wife does not have to work full-time. We are 1.5 hours from her parents and 2 hours from her sister. This is not perfect, but we are close enough to not miss any of the big family events. My wife just hosted Christmas with her family and she loved it.
We kept the house in Hawaii and I fly back 3-4 times/year for maintenance and repairs (mostly landscaping). This part has been awesome. I was there for 6 days over Thanksgiving break visiting friends, surfing and working on the house.
The upstairs tenants are moving out April 9th. I will be back for 5 days during spring break to re-rent the house to new tenants (March 20-25). We will start the new lease around April 22nd. I will fly back to Hawaii with my wife, son and her parents on April 9th for vacation. I will stay 5 days (9th-13th). They will stay 14 days (9th-22nd).
Living in Colorado and visiting Kauai often (on the cheap), seems to be a perfect fit. I also like to snowboard and we are 2.5 hours to Breckenridge. Last year, Vail Resorts extended the season from around mid to late April to memorial day. If conditions permit they stay open later. I was there last year on closing day on June 9th. It was awesome.