When I posted on my Facebook that I had “checked in” to Barton Creek Resort and Spa Wednesday night, one of my girlfriends commented and said, “oooh, fancy.” If you’re looking for a true holiday experience this season and want to do something that YOU and the kiddos can enjoy then you have to check out Barton Creek Resort & Spa this year! Wesley and I temporarily lived in the Barton Creek neighborhood before buying our home and had heard about the tree lighting and ice skating the resort had last year, but Lincoln was only 4 months old so we never checked it out. But this year, Lincoln is into lights, kids, sparkles, and everything else known to man so we made our way back to our old stomping grounds and went to the resort for some holiday fun… plus, it didn’t hurt that Austin Moms Blog was personally invited by the resort.
It was already dark by the time we arrived, which lit up the main drive even more with their mini Trail of Lights. When we first walked into the resort, they had a gingerbread house set up in the main area adding to the holiday cheer. We decided to have dinner first in the 8212 Wine Bar & Grill, which was completely child friendly… there were almost more kids than adults at the restaurant, but dinner was still intimate (I hope) for the non-child patrons. I was really surprised that the prices on the menu were so affordable considering we were at a “fancy” place, but prices didn’t matter because Austin Moms Blog was treated like royalty and Wesley and I were instructed to order anything on the menu compliments of the resort… so we did, LOL! Wine and all! Yeah, dinner was pretty much amazing! Thanks, Barton Creek Resort & Spa for feeding the date night deprived old married couple!
We were given a goodie bag upon arrival from the marketing coordinator of the resort, which included an adorable holiday monkey stuffed animal, a gingerbread house making kit for the gingerbread house contest they were having, as well as ice skating passes. Unfortunately, we missed the actual tree lighting ceremony since we were enjoying dessert, but we moseyed down to the ice skating area after dinner to check out the fun. The resort has a huge fireplace where adults were sitting around drinking wine and hot cocoa while the kids skated. It’s a beautiful lit up rink and they had great music playing as well.We checked out the tree, which is something like 36’ tall! Trying to get a picture with Lincoln looking at the camera is next to impossible with a 36’ lit up tree behind you… but this is what we got, the back of Lincoln’s head. Here’s a better one of just me and Lincoln.
They have shops inside with tons of Christmas stuff… there were more trees, toys, and things to buy for the holidays!
On our way out, we ran into Santa Claus. Now I know there’s a lot of debate as to whether Ole’ Saint Nick is real or not, but after last night, I’m a believer!!!! Not only did Santa look completely authentic (he wasn’t wearing cheap black boots either, but rather something you’d truly see in the Arctic), but he had an accent and referred to Lincoln as a “lad”. He was either totally from the North Pole or just a REAAAAALLLY good actor. Either way, Lincoln wasn’t freaked out by the old hairy guy so we were able to get a couple of cute pics.
This is the 2nd annual Holiday and Lights Event for the resort and this year they have partnered with Fox 7 News and Neimen Marcus to bring us more merriment and cheer for the holiday season! The best part about the ice skating is that all of the proceeds from skate rentals are going to Make-A-Wish Foundation. The resort is open now through January 2nd and even open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This is an event you don’t want to miss and we feel incredibly lucky that we got to experience the “fancy” ness the resort has to offer during the holidays.
What special memories you and Wes are providing for Lincoln!
We had so much fun! It was a stretch for his 7 pm bedtime though, but I feel better about taking him to see Santa tonight after having a trial run at this event 🙂
I can’t wait till Jackson wants to go do all that! Although that means his bedtime would be later than 5pm and I’m not sure I want that, lol.
G, I DON’T blame you one bit! It has to be something pretty spectacular to convince me to get Lincoln off his sleep schedule. I’m a clock watcher when it starts getting close to 7 pm.
Looks like you all had a great time. So glad you got to go. Just ask Wesley the saying is if you don’t believe you don’t receive!!
Ooo, fancy! Sounds like so much fun! I like the ideas for holiday traditions for when I have a little family.