treehouse fantasies + childhood memories

When I was a child, I was obsessed with a couple of different toys that involved living in trees. I am not really sure why. Sarah had a tree house. Or at least it started out as a tree house and evolved from a few boards of wood, to one board and then finally just a simple swing hanging from the branch.

The only time I ever slept outside was in a tent in Sarah’s backyard. I was a tad bit jealous when Paige had spent the night in her father’s army tent with real cots and everything. But I changed my mind once I was tucked into my sleeping bag. Maybe it was a neighborhood dog that brushed up against the side of the tent. But whatever it was, I thought this is not for me. I was on my way back across to Memaw’s house within a few minutes.

I didn’t attempt to camp again until we were in college and we would camp out for basketball tickets. Sometimes tents were involved. Sometimes they weren’t. I am not sure why sleeping on cold cement with a thousand other college students didn’t really feel like camping. But that is as close as I ever came to it. And that still has nothing to do with sleeping inside of trees.

A few years ago, Sarah and I started discussing the various woodland characters. With the miracle of the Internet, you can find almost any childhood memory online if you search long enough.

WOBBLELAND – Home to Aaron’s Weebles Collection

You may be able to find any unanswered questions that you have here at Aaron’s Weebles Collection. I had the tree, which included a little elevator swing and a little time-out spot on the trunk. But we didn’t have time-out when I was little. I don’t think that I thought of that as being a really bad place to hang out by yourself.

This This Old Toy web site can tell you more than you would ever want to know about the Woodsey log house. I loved my Woodsey log house and even took one of my mom’s dangle earrings and added to the ceiling as a chandelier. I am pretty certain that this toy set inspired Sarah’s theme to her wedding decor. There were no squirrels involved. Just ferns as center pieces, one of which my mom still has.

I also checked out the Brambly Hedge series from the library on countless occasions. I loved the detailed diagrams of the entire interior of the tree house. I was pretty excited when Target collaborated with Brambly Hedge around 2000. I gave the Summer Story to my little cousin, who was my flower girl.

I even recommended that Sofia check out the books for inspiration when she created the giant tree for the Paper Source Georgetown window last spring. She made the most amazing little hole, which hosted Alice and her Wonderland clan having their famous tea party. It was nested inside a hole in the tree’s trunk, reminiscent of one of those sugar panorama easter eggs. (I was obsessed with those as a child, too!)

On MLK Day, Henry wanted to take a Washington, DC holiday. So we went out and visited a couple of museums, including the Holocaust Museum. After spending hours at the museum, we desperately needed a drink and a little reprieve from the serious nature of this amazing memorial. We went to Border’s on 14th Street. I picked up a million magazines and spent about half an hour sitting in the window sill browsing.

When I ran across this amazing tree house, it seemed perfectly logical that I needed to have it. And it’s only $160. The following disclaimer makes it worth the while. No living tree is harmed to produce TREE BLOCKS® They use the discards of managed paper forests. Maybe this should be on every one’s list of how to spend their tax refund.