Lucky last

On our last day in San Francisco we decided to take a tour of this magnificent city,

so we hopped on one of the red double decker buses & off we went.

Come with us now as we wind our way through the streets of San Francisco, I hope you are wearing something warm as it's pretty windy up on top of the bus!

We passed many amazing buildings, like the San Francisco City Hall.

 There were a lot of large murals everywhere,  often with thought provoking messages. 

I loved this incredible mosaic.

The houses are so gorgeous aren't they? 

We passed a few famous houses but unfortunately I didn't manage to get any shots of them. The house from the movie Mrs Doubtfire was one of them. I love that movie!

We cruised through Haight Ashbury which was a blast. I had an unfortunate/hilarious public toilet incident there but I'm not sure I want to share it with the world. Close friends..maybe.. :)

Soon it was time to cross over the Golden Gate Bridge!! Ahhh!!

This beautiful and elegant bridge is celebrating her 75th birthday this year. Wow! Did you know that..

                      ... about forty one million vehicles travel over the Golden Gate bridge every year,

                                  that the bridge is painted a colour called International Orange,

and it's the Pacific Ocean that lies underneath?  Check out the landscape on the ocean side. Pretty awe-inspiring. Can you feel the wind? Woooshh!

We headed back into the city..

where we heard some interesting facts about the 1906 earthquake. The earthquake only lasted a few seconds but the repercussions were immense. The huge fires that followed the earthquake destroyed over 25,000 buildings across 490 city blocks.

                                                             This little church survived.

Hustle and bustle! I loved these vintage street cars. All so beautifully made and maintained. There is a large collection of them from other cities in the US and they run daily up and down Market St. Pretty cool!

For those of you who have been following our travels in America, thank you for coming along for the ride. I've really enjoyed sharing some of our experience with you.

For me the highlight of our trip was seeing family. It was such a thrill to be with Mark's sister and her husband and kids, and to finally meet Mark's brother. I hope we get to have lots more time with them. The hardest part was saying goodbye.

I still have a kazillion photo's but all good things must come to an end so I shall finish up today.

Back at home we are settling in after a shaky start..more on that later.

Are you planning any travels of your own? We are already planning our next trip..hopefully for six months or so in the US, in 2014.  I can't wait to get back, I had the BEST time, I'm so glad we went. 

Travel is so addictive isn't it? Half the fun is in the planning and wishing and the dreaming.

 Happy dreaming lovely ones xo

Australia Day

Today was Australia Day, what does that mean for you? I love Australia but I don't feel like I need a special day to appreciate it. We didn't celebrate but we did have a lovely day. Perhaps today was more a celebration of our Australian/Swedish/American family in a way, and our life in a small country town.

There was buttermilk pancakes for breakfast, a big hit with all of us! Then the kids set up a stall just down from our house, with Ruby from Nextdoor. They sold eggs, herbs, plums, jam and flowers.

Inspired by Kate, who is always whipping up beautiful dresses for her girls, and Charlotte, who threw this little number (see below) together this morning, I made an attempt at a dress for Sunday.





We were in Ballarat yesterday & went to a great opshop where amongst other things I bought two white singlets.




I sewed a part of this pretty pink & yellow flowery sheet onto one of the singlets & suddenly it was a dress! Sunday was so excited and looked so pretty in it. I really enjoyed making something special for her.



Ok so then Rosie wanted a big of the action. Lucky I had two singlets!




A sweet cotton nightie was cut into two and hemmed, and the bottom part sewn onto the singlet no.2.

You can see that they were both pretty simple but it was satisfying, fun & quick.

Rosie loved her dress too & danced in it till she was exhausted.

One day I'd like to learn more about how to sew from a pattern & I'd love to be more confident & make more clothes for the kids, and hopefully myself!

Charlotte has started packing to go back to school. It's a tricky time for us all as we feel the sand disappearing under our feet, the water dragging her back into the big ocean of Melbourne & school. We've had so much fun together, this summer, it's been the best. I hate her going away and last night I found myself crying in bed, anticipating her not being around. I know I'm a big sook & prone to crying at the drop of a hat, but it's just hard. I'm not great with change & always have this difficult time when Charlotte leaves.

It's a good thing she was being silly today because that really cheered me up! The girls played dolls, yes even Charlotte, and sat on the back steps being funny.

Then it was back to more sewing, Ruby made a book cover & Lucy started on a softie from the Meet Me at Mikes craft book.

While they got crafty I got out the new family calender & chore charts that we bought in Sydney. I'm hoping they will make life run a little more smoothly once school goes back. Anything that gets me more oganised can't be a bad thing. I'm half looking forward to returning to school routine & half terrified that I'll sleep in, or forget something important. I'm really going to miss the relaxed pace of the holidays & having lots of unscructured time with the kids, but I will enjoy having some more time to myself & hopefully I'll get some sewing done too!

What's happening in your world this week? Hope you're having a good one, see you soon xo