Not What We Expected

David and I honeymooned in St. Thomas. We were probably the youngest couple there and we were not even old enough to rent a car. We had a great time and always said for our 10 year anniversary we would go back. We have nothing planned yet, so hopefully it still happens. Ten years ago I remember stepping off the plane and was hit by the heat and humidity. It was uncomfortable to be outside during the day unless you were by the beach or the pool. Maybe we can go this winter - it wouldn't be as hot and much more enjoyable.

Instead of beautiful St. Thomas, we were in Dubuque. I took the kids to VBS for the last day of fun and David went to work. David had a beautiful vase of mixed flowers delivered and I had a card (with a nice love poem) for him. It is kind of sad that this is all we had for each other after reaching this milestone still happily in love. However, I did tell David not to get me anything because I just wanted a fancy refrigerator in the new house. In the evening, we went to the Rowan's to see new baby David.

David's mom and Richard are in town to help out the Rowan's. They came over to our house tonight to babysit so we could go on a date. We went to the restaurant Houlihans - very delicious. David had a house salad with ranch and fancy pot roast and I had a tuscan salad and a chefs special (crusted chicken, artichokes, mushrooms and creamy sauce over linguine).

Right next to the restaurant is a casino, so we decided it would be fun to check it out. We walked around for a while and realized what a depressing place it was. Smoking was allowed 'on the floor', so the place smelled horrible. All the slot machines were making noises, so there was this annoying constant high pitched hum. About 90% of the people in there belonged in a nursing home - a sign was even advertising wheel chairs available. It was sad to see people wasting their money - didn't they realize that they had little chance of winning. So we decided to join them to see what was drawing them in. We each had $10 and decided to try a slot machine. We watched as others would rub the screen for luck, alternate between pulling the lever and pushing the button, and switch machines when they were loosing. Well, our money went up and down and was completely gone in about 15 minutes.

10 Years of Marriage!

HAPPY HAPPY

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ANNIVERSARY

The Community Pool

Last week I went to the Dubuque recreation department and purchased a swim pass for our family. It cost only $94 for all 5 of us for the summer season. I thought this was a great deal for the use of 2 different outdoor pools. The only strange thing is that you have to sew your ID tag on your swimsuit. It is made of hard plastic and is 1/2 x 2 inches. Well, what if you want to wear a different suit than the one the tag is on? They told me you can wear a different swimsuit, but you have to always show the suit with the ID tag on to get in.

David took the girls to the pool last Saturday and Sunday in the afternoon and they had a great time. The pool is open in the evenings until 9pm, so because it was hot tonight we all decided to go. I was very impressed! The pool is about 10 minutes away and has two water slides, a zero depth beach pool, diving boards, spray fountains/kid climb on area/wading pool, sunbathing areas, sand box/play area and concessions. I know where we will be spending our hot summer days!

An Eventful Day

Today the strangest thing happened. While driving to pick up the girls from VBS I had the air conditioning on in the minivan. When I parked, I put the windows down about a quarter of the way down so it wouldn't get so hot inside. I loaded the kiddos and pulled out of my parking spot. As I drove out of the parking lot I heard a strange noise and felt something hit my arm. I looked at my window and the glass was shattering and landing all over me. I stopped the minivan and looked around and there was nothing that could have hit the window. A splinter of glass even made a small cut on my arm. We have been having occasional problems with this window going down, so maybe something was wrong inside the door. Wierd....

David spent the day at a construction site watching dump trucks in action. They were gathering performance data on the trucks and had a chance to ride around in them. Here are some pictures of the kids toy dump truck.

Last Friday (6/20/08) David's Sister in Ohio had a baby boy - her 4th child. Tonight David's other Sister in Iowa had a baby boy - her 7th child. This gives me the itch to have another one.

Hello Dubuque, Iowa

The Timeline:

• May 31, 2008 - We arrive at the rental house, which is smaller than our old house. It is only a few years old, so it is in nice condition just not my style. The girls love that there is an upstairs and a downstairs. I don't love it so much because all I do is watch Jett on the stairs. I do love the area and all the conveniences close by.
  
• June 3, 2008 - The moving truck arrives with all our stuff and it takes the whole day to unload everything. The driver told me we had around 150 boxes plus all the big stuff that doesn't fit in a box. The basement was so packed that we only had a small path to walk through.
• June 4-11, 2008 - Start unpacking, thunderstorms, more unpacking, more thunderstorms/tornado warning, more unpacking and more thunderstorms. Fortunately, Dubuque was not hit by all the flooding!
• June 12, 2008 - Cable is installed. We can now watch TV and are connected to the internet. Isn't it sad that this is part of the important events.
• June 14, 2008 - We met with a home builder. We decided that we would like to build another house and begin working with him on house plans.
• June 15, 2008 - Father's Day. We have a park just down the road from us.
• June 23, 2008 - Today.... Now I feel like I am up to date. The girls started Vacation Bible School at a church nearby. We have tried this two different church's (each one twice). Church shopping is so hard after we were spoiled with Ada Bible.

Goodbye (or see you later) Alto, Michigan

The Timeline:

• Beginning of February 2008 - David's brother-in-law calls to let him know there are some engineering positions open at John Deere, so he sent in his resume.
• End of February 2008 - David flew out to Dubuque, Iowa for interviews with several supervisors of different product lines.
• Beginning of March 2008 - John Deere lets David know that they will be offering him a position, but don't know what one yet. The difficult decision making process begins.
  
• End of March 2008 - David is offered the position of design engineer in the dump truck group and they want an answer in 5 days. As a family, we decide to make the move.
• March 31, 2008 - Our Snow Ridge house is on put on the market.
• April 1, 2008 - We have our first showing and an offer is made on the house...no it wasn't a cruel April Fools joke. The house is sold to a family with 3 little kids - how perfect.
• April 14, 2008 - David starts the new job in Iowa. The 3 kids and I stay in Michigan until the end of May. David drives home on the weekends. This was not as hard as we thought it would be. Thanks so much to all of you who helped us out!!!
  
• May 9-14, 2008 - Jett and I flew out to Dubuque to do some house hunting with David. We decide to rent a house for awhile until we know for sure what area we want to live in.
• May 29-30, 2008 - All our stuff (except a suitcase of clothes and sleeping bags) in the Snow Ridge house is packed up and loaded on a big moving truck.
• May 31, 2008 - We (plus a fish, 2 cats, and 3 plants) leave our old house in Michigan and drive out to our new temporary house in Iowa.
  

A New Blog

It is about time that we joined the blogging world. Who are we you ask? The Didelot family: David (5-27-76), Lisa (7-31-76), Morgan (7-17-01), Carmen (1-1-04), and Jett (3-29-07) - you can figure out our ages. We hope to use this blog to keep our family and friends updated on our lives.