Tyler Rose Garden

Wednesday we went to Tyler to see about the red bump on Jed's lip. Turns out it was just a blood vessel that had pushed itself to the surface of Jed's skin. It had popped a couple of days ago and the doctor said it didn't show any signs of coming back, so we left without any screaming. Sometimes it's frustrating to drive so far for nothing, but I was glad Jed didn't have to go under the knife.

After we ran a few errands, we made a stop at the rose garden. Tyler is well known for beautiful roses and we've had lots of people tell us we need to stop by the garden. It was a little early for roses but we still saw some gorgeous flowers.

The azaleas and camellias were blooming beautifully.

The rose garden was huge and beautifully landscaped. There were lots of fountains to play in and Jed (and Dave) had a great time splashing around.

I love these pink azaleas. Azaleas can be a finnicky flower but they look so gorgeous when they're well maintained.

Dogwood trees grow everywhere in East Texas and it's so fun to drive down the county roads and through the forest to see their white blossoms peeking through the other greenery. I really enjoyed seeing this one standing in all its glory out in the open.

This pond and the other two that connected to it had HUGE koi swimming around in it. Jed thought they were pretty cool.

Mr. GQ

It wouldn't be a rose garden in Texas without a few yellow roses!

I love this gorgeous tiny rose arbor. The flowers were getting ready to wilt and tiny petals were blowing everywhere. It was almost like being in a snow storm--almost.

Little tiny white roses from the arbor. They smelled so sweet!

The variety of roses we used in our wedding! I was so delighted to see some of them in bloom.

There were lots of snapdragons and tulips blooming as well. I really liked this combination a lot.

These purple roses behind Jed and I were my favorite we saw all day. I was really sad that the name tag was missing--isn't that always the way it goes? Oh, by the way, I got a hair cut! This is not a great picture of it, but I really like it. As usual, Jed's really into having his picture taken :)

As we were leaving, we found a baby turtle!

We thought he was so tiny and cute that we decided to bring him home. Before you judge us too harshly, we didn't see any other babies that he may have belonged with, and we figured it was pretty dangerous for him to be wandering along the pathway all alone. Turtle benefactors, that's us. Anyway, he's happily installed in a reptile carrier for now, and we're on the hunt for a bigger tank for him. He has been named Franklin and Jed helps feed him morning and night. Jed loves this turtle, as do all of our Lightning McQueen cars--they spend a lot of time "watching" him as he swims around.

We had a great time at the rose garden--the flowers were beautiful, the day was gorgeous and there was lots of room for Jed to get his wiggles out and run around. I would love to go back when all the roses are blooming!