This Post Is For Cari

Ok, that's totally untrue. I was getting ready to write it anyway but since, while I was readying myself, she left a comment asking about it....I'll pretend it's just for her. I mean YOU, Cari. This post is just for YOU.

Last Friday, we did go to Chick-fil-A. Twice. We always go twice because my husband hates to miss out. The funny part is that this year he actually printed out the cow spots from the C.A.D. website and went on his lunch. But he still insisted that we go again for dinner. So we did.

What can I say? He's the boss.

Anyway, our first trip to Chick-fil-A was only mildly terrifying. (My husband thinks it's hilarious that I use the phrase mildly terrifying so often, by the way.) When we arrived, I coerced my children out of the van and immediately locked it so they could not try to get back in. Ok, so I locked it because my camera was in there. But whatever.

There was some whining on the way in, despite the fact that we hadn't actually seen the cow through the window. But I was sure it was there and kept reassuring my children that "even though the cow will be there, you don't have to be afraid". It totally didn't work. But back to the story....

A few of my friends were already there with their children when we arrived, so one of them helped usher us all in. When she announced that there was NO COW in the store, my children relaxed and so did I. A little.

We ordered our food, sat down and began to eat. And then it happened.

Along came Cow. Giant, scary, head-way-too-large-for-its-body cow.

My son actually did quite well. My daugther cried into my shoulder for the next 30 minutes. I know I'm the meanest mom in the world for forcing them to stay inside the restaurant, but hey...I was eating!

The manager stopped by our table shortly after the cow began its rounds on the other end of the restaurant. I mentioned to him that two of my children were pretty scared of the cow and kindly asked him if there was any way he could request that the cow remain a reasonable distance from our table. Since the people who work at Chick-fil-A are the nicest people on earth, of course he complied. But the presence of the cow was still enough to leave my middle child clinging to me for dear life.

After playing in the playplace for a while after eating (or not eating, as my terrified children did), we managed to make it out of the restaurant with minimal psychological damage.

Due to the emotional trauma of the day's events, I was hoping my husband would not be interested in going again, but alas...my dreams were dashed to pieces when he said "But I was planning on Chick-fil-A for dinner."

So we set out for the next closest Chick-fil-A. I was already Chick-fil-A'd out and still pretty full from lunch, so I insisted that my husband wear the adult cow suit and I just wore a "Eat Mor Chikin" sign so I could get a little something.

When we arrived, I was SO happy to see a rather empty parking lot and no scary cow in sight. Let's face it....Castleton is just way less cool with the south side of Indy. (Just kidding, Castleton folks.) :)

The cow never did show up, a non-happening for which I was very grateful, and we enjoyed a peaceful (albeit, very familiar) dinner. As we were going outside to get back into the van, I realized I hadn't taken any pictures. So here I give you the one, THE ONLY, picture taken from our Chick-fil-A day:

I know. The adult cow suit is totally envious. Too bad you can't see the udders in this picture.

And Cari, next year you need to join us so you can see all of this chaos played out LIVE in front of your very own eyes. It's really rather entertaining. You know, if you thrive on the excitement that comes from a small child's tear-filled eyes and screams of horror at the sight of something so scary, so monstrously huge, so terrifyingly awful as THE CHICK-FIL-A COW.