Pictures: Caleb, James and Teresa at the Truck Driver's Rodeo; Kevin in front of the UPS Freight tent
My husband, Kevin, drives for UPS Freight and each year the drivers who have completed an entire year with a safe driving record are invited to attend the annual rodeo in the Boise area. This year it was May 3. Drivers from several other companies also compete. The drivers are scored on a written test, an interview, a pre-trip inspection and finally on their skills in getting a truck through a series of 'problems' on a huge lot. For instance, they have to maneuver the truck so that the rear right tire passes within 18 inches (but does not touch) a tire laying out on the ground or completely cover a $100 bill laying out on the lot with their right front tire or back into a little fenced-in area (reminds me of the shopping-cart return area) so that your rear trailer is within 18 inches (but does not touch) the rear fence. And by the way, the truck the driver uses in the contest cannot be one from his own company.
Our kids love this event mainly because the company puts all of us up in a motel and the one this year had a great pool that is 5 ft deep at the deepest, hot tub, exercise room, even a giant movie screen at one end of the pool area. We all really like this motel. It was fun to take Caleb into the pool for the first time in his brand new Cars swimming suit and a swim diaper. I'd forgotten to bring floaties so we mostly carried him and bounced him up and down in the water. It was also interesting to have all 7 of us in one room. It had 2 queen beds plus a roll-away. Kevin and Caleb started in the roll-away, I and 2 girls in one queen (me in middle) and 2 boys in the other queen. It wasn't too long before Kevin put Caleb in with the other boys because, as you may recall, Caleb tends to take his half out of the middle, sleep sideways, etc. and Kevin had to get up like 5 am. Sometime during the night I climbed out of bed and wrapped up in a blanket and slept on the floor between the 2 queens where sometime later I was joined by one of the boys and later by Caleb.
Another fun part of the event is the free burgers, chips, pop provided by UPS. Kevin's boss commented on how our children all said 'thank you' and 'please' so I was very grateful for the sermon I'd just given them on remembering their manners.
A final memorable event was when Caleb's diaper began spilling over onto pants and shirt and stroller during the awards presentations. No wonder he hadn't wanted to eat hardly anything. So I took him way out to the van, used a pillow case for a diaper changing pad, a large Styrofoam cup as a receptacle for diaper and multiple wipes and finally walked back to the company's booth only to find that practically everything had been picked up and my family had already headed to the van the other way.
Our kids love this event mainly because the company puts all of us up in a motel and the one this year had a great pool that is 5 ft deep at the deepest, hot tub, exercise room, even a giant movie screen at one end of the pool area. We all really like this motel. It was fun to take Caleb into the pool for the first time in his brand new Cars swimming suit and a swim diaper. I'd forgotten to bring floaties so we mostly carried him and bounced him up and down in the water. It was also interesting to have all 7 of us in one room. It had 2 queen beds plus a roll-away. Kevin and Caleb started in the roll-away, I and 2 girls in one queen (me in middle) and 2 boys in the other queen. It wasn't too long before Kevin put Caleb in with the other boys because, as you may recall, Caleb tends to take his half out of the middle, sleep sideways, etc. and Kevin had to get up like 5 am. Sometime during the night I climbed out of bed and wrapped up in a blanket and slept on the floor between the 2 queens where sometime later I was joined by one of the boys and later by Caleb.
Another fun part of the event is the free burgers, chips, pop provided by UPS. Kevin's boss commented on how our children all said 'thank you' and 'please' so I was very grateful for the sermon I'd just given them on remembering their manners.
A final memorable event was when Caleb's diaper began spilling over onto pants and shirt and stroller during the awards presentations. No wonder he hadn't wanted to eat hardly anything. So I took him way out to the van, used a pillow case for a diaper changing pad, a large Styrofoam cup as a receptacle for diaper and multiple wipes and finally walked back to the company's booth only to find that practically everything had been picked up and my family had already headed to the van the other way.
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