Surprising Aunt Tinie

A month or so ago, I started messaging my brother-in-law to see if it was feasible to surprise my dear sister with a visit. Anni has been missing her godparents something awful, so we made our secret plan, and tried not to spill the beans. Anni did let it slip that she had a secret earlier in the week, and Chuck (Tinie's husband) told her that there was a surprise coming, so she had an inkling, but didn't think it would really happen.

Buuuuuut... it did! 

We had the best weekend. The first evening, Anni jumped right into playing with her cousin, whom she adores.

Then we headed to Stations of the Cross, where I didn't take any photos, but, luckily, Anni drew pictures of her favorite things from the trip, so we have her representation of Stations below:

We also had some rather fabulously creamy mac n' cheese in the church hall afterwards. In fact, our tummies were rather well fed the entire weekend.

The next morning, the kids got up, erm, early, and made everyone pretend breakfast, and continued on their lego-playing way quite happily.

Then we headed out to Iguana Grill for some very yummy mexican food. My enchiladas were good, but the absolute best thing we had were the empanadas. Ohhh my goodness, smoky chicken filling and a creamy avocado sauce... just delish.

Then we headed right next door to Sara Sara Cupcakes, where we picked out four lovely cupcakes to have after Mass and dinner later that evening.

We also stopped at the Route 66 Park in OKC, where the kids played their hearts out, and us adults rotated walking the path. Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera out while we were there, but I highly recommend it if you're in the area! After a bit of a rest, we headed off to Mass, except for Tinie who had RCIA duties the next day.

During Mass, there was a bit of a tired meltdown when a certain younger cousin couldn't watch her older cousin receive Communion, and then because she missed her sister. Poor girl definitely needed a nap! That night we had some amazing minestrone, because my sister is a fabulous cook.

She also made a cream cheese filled lemon and almond coffee cake for Sunday breakfast. Oh. my. That is one way to celebrate a Sunday for sure! It was the best coffee cake I have tasted in my entire life.

Then we all lazed about while Millie got dolled up and headed off to herd her wonderful class toward holiness.

Then, after another round of tears, and the strong suspicion that the early mornings were taking a toll on our girl, she snuggled up with Aunt Tinie for a long winter's nap, after which she was briefly confused and stoic, and then incredibly chipper and excited about everything.

Before long, it was time to head off to catch our plane. I'm so grateful for a weekend of sweet memories, not only for myself, but for my Anni, that she got this time to connect with her "god-family" and have a little adventure of her own.