Monday, Mar. 12
It was so nice to be home again! As soon as we awoke, we called our friends and met them for lunch. Here is Brooke and her buddy, Caitlin...
Reese and Caleb...
Candy and me. It was so nice to see Candy and have a good "homeschool talk".
After lunch, Reese went horseback riding with her friend, Grace. Brooke went to Caitlin's house and I spent a couple of hours in Wal-Mart!
Tuesday, Mar. 13
At 1pm, we flew to Nashville today. Bruce's Aunt Marie drove there from St. Louis, and we all spent the night at Grammy's house (Bruce's mom, Effie.) Grammy is showing us her new fireplace.
We all went out for a delicious Chinese meal, and Cindy, who drove from St. Louis, arrived around 10pm.
Wednesday, Mar. 14
This morning we woke up at 3:30am, said goodbye to Grammy, and drove an hour south to Columbia, Tennessee to attend a Chick-fil-A grand opening. Cindy had car trouble and we had to leave her behind, hoping that we would see her there and that it wasn't anything serious. If we get to Columbia by 6am, we will be included in a lottery to receive 52 free Chick-fil-A combo meals (worth $6 each!)
We arrived just barely in time, but Cindy was lost. They were already lining everyone up and we thought Cindy might miss her chance. Here we are lining up.
But we turned around, and there was Cindy! Her car had made this horrible noise all the way here, but she found her way and snuck right on in with the rest of us! They almost disqualified her because she was 2 minutes late, but they decided to let her stay in the lottery.
We got our lottery tickets and waited to see whose number would be picked. After they called 75 names, no one in our group had been called... we were starting to worry that we had driven all this way for nothing! Then Cindy got #80 and Aunt Marie got #94. I didn't make it at all. This was my 9th grand opening, and the first time I didn't even get picked for an alternate!
The morning was spent checking in the 110 people whose numbers were picked and the guests of those people. Brooke, Reese, and I were guests of Cindy and Aunt Marie. We set up our tent and the awning, and our table, chairs, and games; and the girls unpacked their school work.
All we had to do now, was stay on the Chick-fil-A grounds for 24 hours, and then we'd be given the free meals that we were promised. Our group of three adults will split the 104 coupons that we'll receive tomorrow morning.
Reese and Brooke are doing their school work here.
It was a beautiful spring day in the high 70's, but it did threaten to rain with a few clouds. At one point the wind started to blow so hard that we thought a few tents might blow away, and it rained a little, but the storm passed quickly.
Several games were set up for people to play.
They gave us a chicken biscuit for breakfast, all the sweet tea we could drink all day long, a chicken sandwich with fries for lunch, and we were allowed inside the restaurant for dinner to order a chicken sandwich or chicken nuggets with fries.
For dinner in Saudi, Bruce and Jordan got shawarmas at the pool and kept Shadow company while we were away.
The scavenger hunt game is being played here. The players are lined up in chairs and are told to find a certain object anywhere on the grounds; and while they're away, one of the chairs is taken away.
This boy returned to find all the chairs occupied, so he is out of the game. You can see Brooke standing behind the players on the right... she has already gotten out at this point, but Reese is still in the game.
Now there are only three players left!
Now two!
Reese ended up getting second place in the scavenger hunt, so she was given a milk shake.
There was a DJ who had karaoke set up. You could choose your song on these computers and then the words would be displayed on another screen while you sang into the microphone.
Reese and Brooke are singing a duet here.
You can see the screen here where they're reading the lyrics.
They were nervous, but they did a great job! I even sang a song... boy was it nerve-racking!
Here is the hula hoop contest.
There was even face painting.
Here is the jump rope contest.
Brooke won some candy!
This was some sort of bean bag throwing contest.
Before everyone goes to bed, we are all given Ice Dream Sundaes. We get to top the sundaes with all kinds of candies and syrups and goodies!
Brooke is always famous for having a big bowl of candy with a little ice cream underneath it.
After the ice cream, Brooke and Reese fell into exhausted heaps on their sleeping bags. Aunt Marie chose to sleep out under the stars, while Cindy and I sat up and talked for an hour before we went into the tent to sleep. I didn't sleep very well because I could hear the man in the tent next to me keep clearing his throat very loudly, but we were happy to be there. I normally don't have anything bad to say about these grand openings, but I think we were in hillbilly country this time -- and I don't mean that in a good way!
Thursday, Mar. 15
At 5am, everyone wakes and packs their tent and belongings, so we did the same. Since I wasn't a winner in the lottery, I didn't have to line up to receive the prize; but Cindy and Aunt Marie got to line up with the other 98 winners, put on a t-shirt and hat, and be the first 100 people to walk through the restaurant and receive their 52 combo-meal coupons.
Afterwards, we drove north to the Nashville airport to catch a plane back to Atlanta. We had a day and a half at home again while the girls were able to see neighbors and friends, and I packed boxes to take back to Saudi. I also spent a lot of time trying to figure out which flight would get us to Salt Lake City this weekend. Since it seems to be spring break everywhere, the flights do NOT look good! I sure hope we get there. Bruce is also having trouble finding a flight from Amsterdam to Salt Lake City. Hopefully, we'll meet up there, as planned.
