Come With Me To The Zilker Tree!

I have such fond memories as a child in Austin visiting the Zilker Park Christmas Tree. This isn't your run of the mill evergreen. Oh, no! It's a 155ft.tall rainbow of lights... made of the most beautiful Christmas lights you can imagine. The star on the top of the tree measures 10ft. from tip to tip. The base of the tree is made of 19 utility poles, each 14ft. high, forming a circle around the Moonlight Tower. Truly a sight to see.

Jeff & I drove to Grammie's on Monday so we could do the annual Zilker Tree visit with Reese.

We met up with my childhood friend, Ashley, & her son Simon as well as Ashley's mom & Grammie's friend, Letha. Luckily, we were able to park at Ashley's office & avoid the 30 minutes of parking traffic (not to mention the other traffic of just getting to the parking for the Tree & Trail of Lights!).

So why would one want to visit a tree such as this? To SPIN baby! You see, going into the center of the Zilker Tree, you grab hands with someone (or have someone hold you!) and spin in circles while you look up. It will scramble your marbles!:

I was amazed at how much spinning Reese was into! I had to stop eventually because I was getting too dizzy, but Reese was ready to keep going & going.

After the Tree, you can walk the Trail of Lights....a mile long constant display of a zillion Christmas lights, displays, shows, you name it. It's pretty amazing to see, and no pictures even come close to doing it justice. It was free, which is always a bonus, but there were SO many people walking the looped trail, & Reese was tired of walking so we carried him the ENTIRE way. Thirty seven pounds sure gets heavy...

Reese has been obsessed with anything musical since birth. At the Trail of Lights, as you walk through a tunnel of lights, you are surrounded by flashing lights & music. After seeing Jessie's choir concert a few weeks ago, Reese has been really in to conducting songs. Letha crowned him Maestro & we had to wait about five minutes for Maestro to finish his conducting duties:


Some other fun things while we visited....

GGMa has a golf practice thingy at her house & Reese loves to play with it when he visits. Pottsie came for dinner & Grammie, Pottsie, & GGMa all played with Reese. I always think GGMa is brave for giving a 4 year old a golf club in the house, but whatever!


I love it that my Mom saves everything :) It's so amazingly special to see my child play with things that my brother & I loved growing up. The green rotary phone Reese is playing with was one of our favorite toys ever. It must weigh 15lbs, but we lugged that thing all over the house as kids. And now, Reese always asks to play with it. And the HotWheels all over the floor were Uncle Jeff's from back in the day. Tons of vintage HotWheels & they are Reese's favorite cars in the world. He must have 200 cars here at home, but the ones at Grammie's house are extra special. I have to agree!!