‘So Much Love’: Amber Ciccotelli is fun-loving and adventurous as she raises two sons and makes family life unforgettable
March 7, 2022
‘The Most Faithful Woman I Know’
March 8, 2022
Story by The Dahlke Boys
“You want to dance?”
Kiki Dahlke has always been the life of the party wherever she goes and that continues to this day as she has become a fun-loving and devoted wife and mother.
On the first day her and her husband Troy met, he knew he was in trouble.
“I was at a bar on a business trip with some friends. She was standing with one of her friends at a table across the room. When I looked over, she was smiling at me with a big smile, but I couldn’t help but notice her sexy legs.”
“I turned to my buddy and told him, ‘I think I’m in trouble.’”
Kiki was just getting over a bad breakup and her friend had convinced her to go out and dance that night.
“I had been in my room crying for a couple of days when my friend Tina called and told me to get ready and go out to the bar with her. I fought her at first, but eventually I decided to get ready and go with her just to get out of my apartment.”
“When we arrived, we looked around for some people to make friends with. We ended up finding a bachelorette party and started celebrating with them. As the night went on, a group of gay guys came over and bought us all drinks. We were having a great time drinking and dancing when Tina pointed out that some guy at the bar was looking at me. I looked and saw a handsome guy smiling at me and I turned back to Tina and said, ‘He’s good-looking!’”
The night was almost over when the first move was made. Here is how the story went according to Troy.
“The DJ announced the last song of the night and I got up to go ask her to dance. However, as I turned around, I saw her making her way toward me and she asked me to dance. We danced that last song of the night on a floor of broken glass.”
The story continues with Kiki and Troy going out to breakfast that night. Three guys bought her food. However, Troy was the only lucky one to get her phone number.
Two days later, they went out on their first date to Crawdaddy’s in Clearwater. After dinner, they went out to the beach, Kiki’s favorite place, where they sat and talked the night away. It was at this moment that Troy knew he was going to marry Kiki.
Over the next 4 months, they would fly back and forth between Wisconsin and Florida. Troy would drive over two hours to Madison to pick her up from the airport and drive her all the back to the family farm in Mosinee.
After months of flying back and forth, the couple decided to move in together. Kiki flew up to Wisconsin, they packed Troy’s pickup truck, and they made their way down to Florida with his clothes, bedroom furniture, and a jar of JIF peanut butter. They never looked back.
Time started moving fast as their love grew. After two years of building a life together, they decided to get married at Nativity Catholic Church in Brandon. Troy remembers the moment Kiki walked down the aisle.
“As I watched her walk down the aisle, I knew I was the luckiest man in the world. She was vibrant, glowing, and most importantly she was going to be my wife.”
This began a new chapter of life that neither of them was prepared for. After getting married, they moved a few times before settling in Tampa. Their first child, Dakota “Kody” Dahlke, was born in Jacksonville, and their second child, Travis Dahlke, was born in Tampa.
Travis always enjoyed when their mom would take them on surprise adventures.
“Whenever we had good grades on our report cards, mom would reward us by checking us out of school early for a ‘doctor’s appointment’ and take us to our favorite waterpark, Adventure Island.”
“We had so much fun going on adventures like that. During summer, when other kids were at summer camps, mom would always say that we were doing ‘mommy camp’ and we would go to Busch Gardens, Adventure Island, or go to the beach and build sandcastles. It was never a dull moment growing up.”
Kody remembers all the charity events their mom used to do and how much of herself she would give to make sure others were taken care of.
“For many years mom ran a charity organization where she would collect donations of clothes, shoes, and toys from businesses in the area to donate to abused, abandoned, and neglected children during Christmas. Our house would be filled with clothes and toys for over 100 kids every year and there were a few years when that number hit 200. While it made the holidays a little stressful, she loved putting on these events for children in need.”
“I remember mom would assign us specific tasks after school to get us involved. She would always give me a list of the kid’s names to check each bag and make sure every kid had what they needed. For the kids who did extra well or needed extra supplies, she would fill their bags to the brim, and we would hope that the bags didn’t burst apart. We learned to keep extra bags at the party.”
Kiki has done many things to live a good life and raise a good family. She is a strong woman who will do anything for others and seeks out those in need.
She is a loving wife and compassionate mother who gives everything for her family even when she needs to sit down and rest.
Troy knows that Kiki has changed his life for the better, and not a day goes by that he isn’t thankful for his beautiful wife. He loves her more than words can describe, and him and his boys think that she deserves to be celebrated every day for her amazing life.
