First 100!

I had quite an adventure last week.  We will start at the beginning...  I have always liked Chick-fil-a as much as the next girl but never quite understood those with the obsession.  Well, until I had kids.  Chick-fil-a has good food.  You can eat healthy.  They have indoor playgrounds, so you can go even on a rainy day.  They have the best high chairs. They have plastic mats that stick to the table for the kids to eat on so they don't get germs.  If they see you have your hands full (of baby and accouterments) when you order then they will offer to bring your order to your table for you.  If you run out of drink they will come to your table and refill it ( so you don't have to get up with your baby, purse, diaper bag and balance the cup just to get a refill.) They are clean and friendly.  Many of them have infant play places and offer Cheerios for little ones.  Now I am obsessed with Chick-fil-a.

When I arrived back in Texas I started hanging out a good bit with my friend Naomi and her two boys.  She shares the obsession and introduced me to something I had never heard of before.  The Chick-fil-a First 100.  Basically with they open a new Chick-fil-a the day before the first 100 people that get there by the designated time and camp out there for 24 hrs get a years worth of free Chick-fil-a.  I was intrigued and luckily there was a grand opening coming right up.  Some how I managed to rope my sister-in-law Jenny into doing this with me so last week we packed up our bags and headed for the camp out.



In order to qualify to be in the First 100 we had to be there by Wednesday at 6 am.  I dropped Micah off at Grandma's Tuesday night and headed out to Chick-fil-a in Montgomery Plaza, near downtown Ft Worth at 5:15 am.  When I got there there were LOTS of people there.  Hmmmmm I guess we underestimated it being spring break!  At 6 am they escorted us on the property and put us in groups of 25.  We were counted and given raffle tickets.  Only 100 would be allowed to stay!  They called out numbers and we got really lucky!  My friend Naomi ended up being number 10, I was number 26, and Jenny was number 90.  There were well over 250 people there that morning so the fact that we all got in was very lucky!



After they called the numbers you have to go in and register (aka sign the sign your life away forms) and then you are allowed to go to your car and get your things for your stay.  We went and got our things and were back pretty quickly.  Wow, were we woefully unprepared.  Everyone had a tent but Jenny and I! 





It was tent city!  Luckily for us since out of the 10 people in my friend Naomi's group only 4 made it they had some spare tents and we camped out with them!  Once your time is up for getting your stuff you must stay in the roped off area of the parking lot until 6 am the next morning, the only exception being short bathroom breaks inside Chick-fil-a. So our adventure began. 

Now with Jenny having 3 kids and be having Micah, but neither of us having them there, it was much like a Mommy vacation.  The weather was awesome and we sat and read and I learned to play 42 (dominos) with Naomi's family.  Around 9 am (3 hours in) we were asked to line up in numerical order.  We would get really good at this over the next 24 hours.  After they did a "line check" to make sure no one left, we walked through the drive-thru and were served our breakfast, a chicken biscuit!  How fun!  This was repeated at noon for lunch where we were given chicken strips and some chips.  Then at dinner we got to dine in the restaurant so their staff could have a practice run for the next day and were allowed to order a combo meal.



After dinner they had a DJ there playing music and they hosted a 4 square tournament and a scavenger hunt.  All in all, a relaxing fun day!  No diapers and someone cooking every meal for me!  At 8 we got a snack of chicken nuggets and then at 10 they had an ice cream sundae party.  Then the DJ wrapped up and we went to bed for the night. 

The next morning we woke up around 5:30 to pack up and were then lined up for one last line check.  They then handed you a bag with a Chick-fil-a First 100 T-shirt, hat and pen.  When that was finished we were paraded through the restaurant and what ensued I can only compare to a graduation.  You were being applauded by the entire staff, there were a bunch of guys in suits and some news cameras, and you followed the line to get your "diploma" or your box of coupons as a guys in a suit shook your hand and handed it to you.  Kind of an odd experience!

All in all, we made it!  I am rich in Chick-fil-a and see great amounts of it in my future!  It was fun and honestly almost like a vacation.  So one adventure has been laid to rest!