Taking time to smell the roses

When the roses bloom at the Tulsa Rose Gardens, I could happily live there. Sleeping under the stars, smelling the roses, bunnies and squirrels all around...on second thought, I could happily live there but for the squirrels. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a squirrel now and then. But Woodward Park, which surrounds the roses, has a population that is a little extreme. At times, you can be sitting and enjoying nature, and suddenly notice that there are thirty-seven squirrels around you, they have you surrounded, and they're staring. Eryn, I'm sorry. I probably should have included a disclaimer earlier that there would be creepy squirrels in this post. Anyway, the roses are heavenly. I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.

Timothy wasn't exactly Mr. Cooperation for this trip to the park. He heard "park" and thought "playground", so he was a bit disappointed. He was also fascinated by the fountains, and in constant danger of falling into them. I posed this picture and then warned Gabe to hold onto Timothy for dear life. In retrospect, that could've caused further mayhem, since Timothy weights only fifteen pounds less than Gabe, and they both could've ended up in the water.

These three roses were growing on the same rose bush. How is that possible?

I love it that Gabe is old enough to enjoy going to a "park" that doesn't contain a playground. If he's not careful, he's going to grow up to enjoy nature as much as his mom does.

I'm not sure how this picture happened, but it's my new favorite picture of my kids. I was trying to pose them, and Timothy wasn't cooperating (shocker!) so I think Gabe was actually getting up to move closer to Timothy so I could take the picture. The posed picture that followed wasn't nearly as much fun as this one. I want this one framed and hanging in my living room.

Another "please don't let your brother fall into the fountain while I'm taking this picture" pose.

For those who haven't visited this particular park and rose garden, it's modeled after a traditional English rose garden. It has several tiers, and each one has neat paths, water features, topiaries, and lots of roses. If I only had a helicopter, you could see it all.

Don't you just want to bury your face in these? I'm sorry for the recent obsession with flowers and gardening. I would like to promise that this is the last such post for a while, but my hollyhocks are starting to bloom, so I can't.

This is one of my favorites. Isn't that a perfect bloom?

Not to be outdone by the roses, the water lilies are also lovely right now. Gabe pointed out that they smell as good or better than the roses. I pointed out that if he didn't stop leaning so far out to sniff them, he was going to end up giving some poor frog a concussion when he landed upon it.

So, if you're stressed out, I would recommend a trip to the rose gardens. It always makes me feel better, as long as I pay no attention to the Hitchcock squirrels!