The Janelle Wind Collection

Our holiday (last day)...

We have arrived at our very last day of our holiday :-( None of us were keen to come home so it was hard to get ourselves out of bed and packed back into the car bright and early.

We plugged in our navman and this is what greeted us. A full 1263 kilometers till our home. Sigh.

After all of our Op shopping while on holiday we did have a LOT more to fit into the car for the journey home than what we had on our way, so we all had very little leg room. We didn't mind, we had were just so happy with all that we were taking home with us.

We sadly said our goodbyes once again to Mardi and Briony and headed on our way home. We had planned on stopping overnight on our way home but once we got on the road, the call of home was too strong so we decided to see how far we could get.

We saw lots of beautiful countryside once again. It is a sight I will never ever tire of.

The kids had to get inventive with ways to occupy themselves, so they decided to decorate the car with torn up baby wipes. It kept them quiet and busy for a little while!

Then we got a little silly with Yo Yo biscuits. Well Emily did anyway!

Once again we drove over the Hay Plain. It was very windy but still the sun shone and the clouds were just beautiful. Emily had fun taking photos and movies and seeing what her little camera could do too.

We stopped off at one more Op shop on the way home and found this super cute tunic top/dress for Emily that she LOVED so much that she wore it the rest of the way home.

(photo taken at home)

The kids also entertained us at one of the service station stops we had by making a little movie. I am so proud of them for how well they traveled and how much they entertained themselves without electronic devices too.

We continued driving, driving and more driving and decided that we would go all the way home in one day. We arrived home weary but happy at 1.40am in the morning, ready to flop into our own beds for a big sleep.

And that was the end of our holiday. The days after arriving home were a little strange, we missed Mardi and her family so much and felt a little misplaced but were happy to see our family again and tell them all about our holiday too.

Thank you for sticking with me through all of these holiday posts. As you can see, there are a LOT of reasons to take a road trip with your family. There is so much of our beautiful country that is missed when flying above it in an airplane too. For me, these memories that we now have as a family are totally worth the long drive. We did have the BEST holiday and I hope my kids can carry these memories in their hearts for years to come. 

Back to regular blogging very soon. xx Janelle

Our holiday (day ten)...

After a lovely evening with Mardi's family, we decided that we would stay for one more day. We just weren't ready to end our holiday or to leave Mardi's beautiful home and family too.

We decided that we just had to squeeze in one more visit to Mardi's local Op Shops, so we popped in the car and headed on our way.

And guess where we ended up? That's right, back at the Salvo's wonderful Op shop in Berri. This really is my new favourite store!

Once again Mardi and I had a wonderful time looking around and were excited to find more lovely goodies to bring home with us. Here I am looking at a jacket that I ended up buying - you can see my wearing it HERE on one of my What I wore Wednesday posts.

My lovely family had fun finding goodies, taking photos and having fun too!

Here is Mardi and I on our last op shop together, armed with lots of goodies. We didn't want to leave this store, as it was nearing the end of our holiday...

And here is my girl, all dressed up in some Op shop finds. These ones didn't come home with us!

And then as we left this store, there was a few extra mannequins in the window - they looked strangely familiar too!

We headed home with smiles on our faces from another great morning of Op shopping. We left the family at home while Mardi and I popped in to town to buy some goodies for lunch. While we were there we just HAD to duck into two more Op shops. I am SO glad we did. At the very last store we found the most gorgeous Pouf (spelling) for Mardi's home. She instantly fell in love with it, so we excitedly brought it home with us. It looks perfect in her home too.

We spent another lovely evening with Mardi and her family, with the knowledge that this really was our last day together and that tomorrow we would begin the long journey home. The kids enjoyed one more play with Bella and Brooke, we shared our last cups of tea and chatted till our eyes were closing with sleep.

A HUGE thank you to Mardi and her family for helping us have the BEST holiday ever, we really did love every minute of our time together. xxx Janelle

Back soon with our very last day of our holiday...

Our holiday (day nine)...

Day nine of our holiday saw us packing up from our little cabin and getting ready to begin our journey home. After a few texts with Mardi the night before it was decided that we would head home via their place, which gave us a chance to spend a little bit more time together.

While hubby packed the car, the kids and I headed off to have one more jump on the jumping pillow (the kids jumped, not me).

We had one more quick photo in front of our little cabin then headed on our way.

Before we headed on the road to Mardi's we made a quick stop for breakfast. Well hubby and the kids had breakfast while I did a little bit of shopping at an amazing place called Harbourtown which was right near the Adelaide airport. This HUGE expanse of shops was filled with lots of outlet stores. I only managed to look in about 4 stores but came away with some more amazing bargains. The kids popped in for a little shop and smiggle too and a play on the playground - anything to get some of the energy burnt off before a trip in the car!

We then headed on our 3 hour journey to Mardi's. As we left Adelaide, the sun started to shine brightly in the sky and we were  happy to soak it in. As we went over the top of a mountain, I asked Michael if we could stop and take some photos. It was SO very windy but totally worth the stop - this photo shows the riverland and how very very flat that part of Australia really is. Just beautiful!

About mid afternoon we arrived at Mardi's and spent as much time as we could together before Mardi had to head off to work. We then enjoyed a delicious dinner with Mardi's family and one last batch of scones too.

And that was the end of day nine of our holiday...

Our holiday (day eight) - Inspired Stitched (day two)...

We have arrived at Day two of Inspired Stitches and Day Eight of our holiday. Thanks for sticking with me through all of these posts. I really wanted to record these memories for our family as we really did have such a lovely holiday. OK, here is Day Eight...

We woke to a more sunshiny morning than the day before and looked forward to what the day had in store for us all. The family decided they would head off to Adelaide Zoo for the day while I was teaching - I was super excited that they could have a lovely fun day together too.

While I was getting ready for the retreat, Michael and the kids headed down to the beach for a bit of a look. He took these beautiful photos while he was there.

We then headed off for the day, me to the retreat and my family for a day of fun!

I was so very excited to teach this second day at Inspired Stitches. The room soon filled up with excited stitchers, some returning from the day before and others there for the second day only. The room was soon buzzing once again.

We designers headed back to the front to introduce ourselves and our projects once again.

Then it was time to begin our day. Those returning for day two got stuck into their stitching and the new girls excitedly looked through their goody bags and decided which project they wanted to start with first.

There were so many gorgeous girls in attendance that I could have spent all day chatting. I was very excited though to see lots of birdcages being stitched and completed as well.

There was one extra special stitcher who was the very first person, from all three Inspired Stitches retreats, who actually finished one of the retreat projects on the first day. Meet Wendy...

Wendy proudly wore her flower for the day and then was even busier on the second day completing another flower with a fabric belt and a linen journal cover for her flower. As well as that, Wendy's friend Sharon was super busy too and completed the whole scarf as well as a flower and had time to start on one of the other projects as well. Thanks girls - you amazed me away with your cleverness.

I also got to meet some beautiful girls who I had 'known' for many years through my stitching and scrapbooking but had never met in real life. I was thrilled to have my photo taken with some of these girls.

Here I am with the lovely Jo Koschmann who has been making my designs for years. We have chatted through my blog as well so it was a real honour to finally meet Jo.

At the end of the day Jo's beautiful daughter Sophie popped in for a hello too. I have been working with Sophie for quite a few years through my scrapboking with Kim Archer, so it was an honour to meet Sophie too.

I was also thrilled to meet a fellow Blythe collector, Nicole Hall - who brought along her girl Gwen for the day. It was so lovely to meet both Nicole and Gwen and see Gwen dressed in some clothes from my etsy store too.

(left to right: Michelle, Nicole, me and Jo)

I met so many beautiful girls, and some cheeky ones too!! It was great to joke and laugh and have fun while stitching, sipping cups of tea and stitching too. It really was a pretty special day.

Here I am with the naughty (I mean back) table. These girls were so much fun and always ready for a bit of cheekyness too. Thanks so much girls!!

We had a lot of fun chatting about the South Australian Accent too. Most South Australians don't know what I am talking about, but it sure was fun to hear how some of them say hour, shower and flower. Here I am with the gorgeous girls from one of the front tables - some who had the best SA accents ever!

After lunch we had another show and tell. It was really special to see so many of our designs made by others. It was a highlight of my day for sure.

The first photo I want to share with you is of two very special ladies - Marie on the left who I met last time I taught at Inspired Stitches and Christine who I met for the first time this year. Marie and I have kept in contact over the last two years and Christine came all the way from QLD to attend the retreat (and meet me). Both ladies are very special to me and I am honoured to have spent a day with them both. Marie and Christine both had one of my needle keepers from my book to show - aren't they gorgeous!!

The next photo is super exciting to me - we asked those who had completed one of my flowers to come and stand together out the front - and look how many there are!! Each flower looked amazing too - well done clever girls.

Here is a close up collage of some of the finished flowers - they are all so different and all gorgeous too!

I also snapped a few shots of some of my fellow designers displays - everything looked so beautiful and so inspiring too. Here are Natalie's gorgeous samples, all looking pretty grouped together.

And the lovely Gail Pan's samples all looking gorgeous - with a little snippet of Helen's samples on the left side. I am so sorry Helen that I didn't get a full shot of your display.

At the end of the day we gathered together for some photos - and we designers felt a little like we did on our wedding days. Our cheeks were sore from so much smiling!!

The lovely Sandy N snapped this fun shot of Natalie and I together too - I love it! Thanks Sandy.

And before we knew it, the day was over and it was time to say good bye and pack away our samples. I must admit that I left it as long as I could before taking down my samples. I was sad that our special weekend was coming to an end but my heart was full with memories and fun times spent with kindred spirits too.

I want to say the BIGGEST thank you to Sarah and her beautiful family for taking such good care of us and for hosting such a wonderful retreat too. Another big thank you to my fellow designers who made teaching alongside them an absolute pleasure. And to each and every person who attended the retreat - I feel so very blessed to have met you, and take with me very special memories of our weekend together. I really did have the most special time - thank you xx

After packing our weekend away into boxes, my little family and I headed back to our cabin for our last night in Adelaide. On the way out we stopped for a few photos of the Westminster School where the event was held. It is such a beautiful place, I thought you would enjoy seeing a little of the grounds too.

The grounds had lovely sculptures scattered around too, this one was particularly lovely.

We finished our day by taking a last look at the beach near our cabin. It was so lovely to stand and look out over the ocean and soak in the last little snippets of the day.

At that brings me to the end of day Eight and the end of Inspired Stitches. We are also near the end of our holiday too. I will back soon to wrap up the last three days of our holiday... x Janelle

Our holiday (day seven) - Inspired Stitches (day one)...

Day Seven of our holiday saw our little family spending our days apart. Michael and the kids headed off for adventures together in Adelaide and I excitedly headed to the much anticipated 'Inspired Stitches' event run by Sarah of Quilt Fabric Delights.

So today I want to tell you all about 'Inspired Stitches'. Let me tell you, I had the BEST time. It was wonderful, so to share how much fun I had, I better start at the beginning.

We arrived in the morning ready to begin our day to a room looking all delicious - with our samples along one side wall, Sarah's shop at one end of the room and gorgeous table decorations made by Sarah too. Aren't these just the cutest flowers.

There was a buzz in the room as the girls started to arrive. They were greeted by the lovely Ally and shown to their table where they excitedly looked through their goodie bags.

There were lots of greetings, hello's and everyone excitedly having a look around the room. Sarah had her store set up at one end of the room and everything looked just beautiful. Let me tell you, it was so hard not to bring a little bit of every fabric home with me too!

I was very excited to share my designs with everyone there too. I heard a lot throughout the day that our samples look much better in real life than in photos, so it was lovely to have so many on display. I want to send a special thank you to Emma of Ballarat Patchwork who sent my book samples over to Sarah especially for the event. Thank you Emma.

Here are my samples on display. It was really lovely to see them all together, something that hasn't happened for quite a while.

I also brought along my Blythe girls and popped them on display too. There were several girls attending the retreat who collect Blythe dolls also, so I thought they might like to meet my girls in real life too.

After lots of chatting it was time to begin our day. Sarah did the introductions then handed the microphone over to us designers to introduce ourselves and our projects for the retreat. This year I taught alongside 3 gorgeous girls - Natalie Ross of Natalie Ross in Stitches, Gail Pan of Gail Pan Designs and Helen Stubbings of Hugs and Kisses. I really enjoyed teaching with these girls and we had a lot of fun too.

I was really excited to reveal my project to everyone attending as well. I really really love this new design and am excited to show you as well. This year I taught a trio of goodies. The first is a fabric scarf with a stitchery birdcage on one end and applique birds on the other. The scarf is also reversible with piecing on the other side and frills on the end. The second was a journal cover featuring the same stitchery birdcage and bird, a great alternative for those not wanting to make the scarf. And finally a gorgeous fabric flower that could be used for lots of different things - the girls will tell you that I showed then lots of different ways to wear and use their fabric flowers too.

After our introductions it was time to get busy stitching. Sarah had supplied everyone with a starter pack for each of our projects, so much time was spent deciding which project to start with - it was a lot of fun! The room was literally buzzing with excitement.

While the girls began stitching, I enjoyed getting to know everyone just that little bit more and sharing my hints and tips for neat stitchery and my method of applique too. Here are a few snapshots from day one and the gorgeous people that I got to spend my day with.

Here is the gorgeous Q who started my day off with such kind words - thank you Q x

And the beautiful Sandy who flew all the way from Sydney to attend the retreat. I had the pleasure of meeting Sandy a few years earlier so was thrilled to spend a weekend with her again.

Here is Bec and Danielle with their stitching - look how much of the birdcage they finished in one day too, just gorgeous and super exciting too!

I also had the pleasure of meeting so many lovely girls who I had met online or who I knew the names of but had never met in real life. Sadly I didn't get to take a photo with everyone who attended, but here are just a few to share.

Here is the gorgeous Georgette and Meredith - these two were so much fun. It was so lovely to meet them in real life. Georgette's Mum also attended with her, and let me tell you, she give the BEST hugs. Thanks girls for sharing your day with me.

It was also so lovely to meet Janelle and Sue - who both traveled a long way to attend too. Janelle lives in the same town as my swap partner Sally (who I swap Christmas gifts with each year) so it was so lovely to meet Janelle and send hello's back to Sally too.

During the afternoon it was time for 'show and tell', one of my most favourite parts of teaching retreats. You see, working from home I don't often get to see my designs made by others, so it was SUPER exciting to see some of my designs.

Here is the gorgeous Wendy who brought along her 'A Bluebirds Welcome' journal cover - from the pattern I donated to Sarah's retreat last year. I love the colours Wendy has used, just gorgeous.

The lovely Sandy brought along her 'Frilly Dilly Bag' to show us all, and was excited to tell us that she is complimented on her bag all the time. I can see why, it is gorgeous!

I was also VERY excited to see Amanda's version of 'Little Bluebirds', my block of the month. I have only ever seen one other 'Little Bluebirds' in real life and made by someone else, so I did get goosebumps when I saw this and was so excited to see it, thank you Amanda.

We shared a lovely lunch together, lots of cups of tea and chatted (oh and stitched) the day away. I just loved seeing so many birdcages come to life around the room too. I hope to see some finished scarves and journal covers popping up in blogland soon too.

I must confess that the end of the day arrived too quickly and I was sad that some of these beautiful girls wouldn't be returning for the second day but I was still super excited to meet all the new girls coming for the second day as well. We ended our day with lots of photos, hugs and goodbyes until next time. And I headed back to our cabin to hear all about the adventures of my little family too. It really was a great day!

Back soon to share all about day two of 'Inspired Stitches' including lots of photos of more gorgeous girls too... Thanks for following along our holiday with me. x Janelle

NOTE: A special thank you to Sarah for not only hosting a wonderful retreat and taking such good care of us, but for sharing her photos with me too. Sarah has blogged all about 'Inspired Stitches' too - you can see all she has to share HERE. Thank you Sarah x

Our holiday (day six)...

Day six arrived way before any of us wanted it to. We arose early and squeezed all of our goodies into the car for our journey to Adelaide. While Michael was packing the car, the kids and I took a last few photos.

Here is Jasper's self portrait in Mardi's gorgeous mirror in her hallway.

Jasper then headed over to the vineyards to photograph his new owl, Denver.

Emily and I then popped over the road for an outside photo with Jasper, Denver and DeeDee.

We squeezed ourselves into our very full car, and the kids didn't have the owls far from their sight for the entire journey.

We sadly waved goodbye to Mardi and Briony and headed on our way to Adelaide, our hearts full of the fun times we spent together and excitedly looking forward to our weekend ahead too.

The drive to Adelaide is 3 hours long, so to help break the journey just a little we had a little stop along the way - at you guessed it - an Op Shop!

The kids and I had a lot of fun looking through this Op shop. We didn't buy anything this time, but really enjoyed our wander around looking at all of the things for sale.

Not long after our stop over at the Op Shop, we arrived at our accommodation that we had booked online. Sadly there was quite a hiccup with the room being very unsuitable for our needs, so after a few minutes of stressing we headed off to find something more suited to us.

We decided to stay at Adelaide Shores Big4 Caravan park near the airport. We chose a lovely little cabin just near the beach, it was perfect for us. Just a few steps from our door was a great big jumping pillow that was a HUGE hit with the kids. They loved it SO much, and I was happy to stand at the sidelines and watch.

After settling in our cabin, we headed off to meet with Sarah and her lovely family at the Inspired Stitches venue. We had a lovely afternoon setting up our samples, meeting a few of the attendees and getting super excited for the weekend ahead. I will share photos of my samples and all about the weekend over the next two posts.

We then headed back to our little cabin for a quiet dinner together and a good nights sleep. We were all VERY excited for the coming days. Back soon to share all about Inspired Stitches. I can't wait...

Our holiday (day five and last day with Mardi)...

Day five - our last day with Mardi before heading to Adelaide. We were super sad that our days with Mardi were coming to an end so we needed to squish as much as possible into this day.

Before leaving home I decided to tuck my A+ skirt pattern by Make it Perfect into my luggage as I really wanted to do some stitching for Mardi while I was with her. So this morning I set to work making a skirt for Mardi. I was super excited that it fit Mardi so well and that she loved it too. I think she looks gorgeous!!

So while Mardi and I were stitching together, Michael and the kids headed out and about to take a look around. They went armed with camera's so it was lovely for me to see what they got up to while they were out together.

Firstly, they headed to Lake Bonney for some fun on the jetty.

Of course there had to be a jumping photo!!

And a groovy shot too!

Then they headed off to Renmark to a skate park to have some photos taken in front of graffiti.

Oh look, another jumping photo!!

I do love these photos and think my family did a great job capturing their morning together.

By the time my family arrived back to Mardi's it was time for some lunch then we headed over to Renmark for a lovely afternoon tea with some gorgeous girls - Charmaine Size and Lisa Arnet. I have been facebook friends and scrapping friends with these girls for years so it was so lovely to meet them both in real life and share a lovely afternoon tea together. Beautiful Lisa had to head back to work before we had a chance to have our photo taken together so she is missing from our photo but here is Mardi and I with the gorgeous Charmaine. Thank you girls for taking time in your week to meet me, it was so very lovely.

After we left our lovely afternoon tea, we headed to a great little Op shop in Renmark. It was at this store that I found THE vintage dress that set my heart aflutter. We also found some vintage typewriters and other goodies for us all. It was a wonderful afternoon once again. Our day was coming to an end too quickly though.

Soon after this we headed home for another lovely family evening and dinner with all of Mardi's family. Once again we loved every second of our time together and Emily and Jasper loved another long play with Bella and Brooke too.

Jasper loved both girls  but was a tiny bit smitten with Brooke. Not having a younger brother or sister I think he really enjoyed playing with a little bubba quite a bit too.

Not to be left out of all the photo taking, Jasper was happy to pose with his new (op shop) Esprit denim jacket. I think he is looking more grown up every day too!

And yep, you guessed it - another jumping photo!!

Now, one of the MOST exciting things for Jasper from our holiday was a little spoiling from Mardi. Upon seeing all of her gorgeous Owls made for her etsy store "Dudley and Grace", he chose one that he wanted to buy. Well Mardi  had other ideas and was super keen to make one for him and let him help choose the fabrics as she went along. He was beaming from ear to ear when Mardi presented him with his very own owl - called Denver. We took this quick photo in the evening, isn't it gorgeous!

Then beautiful Mardi started again and made one for Emily as well. She was so surprised and super excited as well - she was thrilled to help choose her own fabrics and have her very own owl too. Emily's owl was named 'DeeDee' by Mardi - and it fit her perfectly.

And this is how we ended our day with two happy kiddies tucked up in bed with their brand new owls that they adored. Sadly that brought us to the end of our three days with Mardi - we had the very BEST time and wished we didn't have to leave in the morning but had more exciting adventures ahead of us, so had a good nights sleep in preparation for a big weekend!

Our holiday (day four)...

On day four of our holiday we started with a quiet morning at home, chatting, drinking tea, blogging and just enjoying being in each other's company. Michael (hubby) took little drives around the surrounding towns and soon because an 'expert' on where everything was - he sounded like a local very quickly. The kids thoroughly enjoyed playing on Mardi's Wii too.

They also headed across the road to the vineyards and made some stop motion movies with the Blythe dolls too.

Gypsy Exploring the Vineyard... from Emily Wind on Vimeo.

 

Not too far into the day we got ourselves ready and headed off for some more Op Shopping, this time in Berri. Let me tell you, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor upon walking into this store. My goodness, it was HUGE and full of SO MANY gorgeous things.

Mardi and I spent a LOT of time in here, shopping and oohing and ahhing over everything we found.

The kids had a great time hunting out bargains and making little movies in the store too.

We found a crochet poncho for Emily and an Esprit Jacket for Jasper too - plus LOTS of goodies for decorating our homes and clothes for us (Mardi and I) as well.

Emily wanted to take a photo of some of her goodies for her blog - poncho and aqua shoes. So we headed outside at Mardi's for a little photo shoot. I love the shots we got too.

And of course there had to be a jumping photo, because that seemed to be the new tradition. Emily seems to have mastered the art of jumping and smiling too - Mardi and I need more practice I think :-)

The rest of our day was spent just hanging out together, making dinner, chatting, playing with Bella and Brooke and just enjoying each others company. We didn't want to face the fact that the next day was our last with Mardi and her family. These three days were going TOO fast!!!

Our holiday (day three)...

I hope you are enjoying my holiday posts. I will still be popping regular blog posts here in between these holiday posts so just skip over the holiday if you prefer...

Ok day three. This was our first full day with Mardi and after a late night of chatting the night before, none of us were in a huge hurry to head out and about. We enjoyed a lovely morning of chatting and drinking cups of tea and just soaking in the fact that we were sitting in Mardi's beautiful home too. We all felt instantly at home, and were just loving being with Mardi and her beautiful family too.

Once we got ourselves organised we headed down to the main street of Barmera for a little shopping together. Michael (hubby) had fun taking photos of the town and us while we shopped too. Here is a photo taken from the end of the street looking out over Lake Bonney.

Our first stop was one of the Op Shops in Mardi's town. It was SO exciting to be able to Op shop with Mardi too.

Here is a shot taken inside the store, so you can feel like you were there with us too.

After visiting a few Op Shops we headed to Mardi's local fabric store called B & B's. It was so lovely to see where Mardi buys some of her gorgeous fabrics from and to pick up a few pieces to  bring home too.

The kids had a bit of fun with the sequins too LOL.

We also bought a cute beanie for each of the kids at B & B's too. Jasper's barely left his head for the rest of the holiday, he REALLY loved his a lot. I think he looks super cute too.

After our shopping trip out and about, we headed back to Mardi's for the afternoon. Mardi's family arrived and the kids thoroughly enjoyed getting to know and playing with Bella and Brooke. We shared more cups of tea and just soaked up being together.

I also popped around Mardi's home taking some photos (with her permission) of lots of the details and handmade things that make her home so beautiful. I was so thrilled to see little pieces of my designs scattered around Mardi's home too. Mardi pattern tests so many of my designs for me, so it was lovely to see these in real life too.

Towards the end of the day we decided we would head outside and take our What I wore Wednesday photo together. We had three little helpers too and let me tell you, we laughed a LOT.

We started with some normal shots like this.

Then tried some Charlie's Angels poses...

Then this kids convinced us that we needed to do some jumping photos. Now, let me tell you, this is harder than it looks, especially trying to keep a pleasant look on your face. Be warned, it is sure to bring LOTS of laughter too!

Then because apparently we weren't doing it just quite right, the kids had to show us how it was done. Here is Bella.

And then Jasper. I think he has the pleasant face while jumping down pat.

After LOTS of laughing and heaps of fun, we ended up with these shots. It sure was fun.

And that brings us to the end of day three of our holiday. Again you can follow along on Emily's blog and see her daily movies from our trip too. xx Janelle

Our holiday (day two)...

Day two saw us up bright and early excitedly packing the car for the second part of our journey. I had excited butterflies in my tummy because I knew by that afternoon I would be with Mardi - so very very exciting!!

It was a freezing cold morning in Narrandera with a white frost on the ground. Our hands were freezing cold but the sunshine was beautiful too. Here are the happy faces in our back seat - super excited to be closer to our destination too.

We stopped on our way out of town to take some quick photos, because the morning was just so beautiful.

We only spent a few minutes in Narrandera but we could see that it was a beautiful country town filled with history and beautiful old buildings too.

On our way out of town, I snapped a few photos out of the car window. This is one of my favourites as it shows the beautiful misty morning that greeted us. Perfect travelling weather for sure.

We passed so many things that make me proud to live in this beautiful country too. Old Windmills, wild emu's, many flocks of sheep...

And big sheering sheds that would be bustling with activity during sheering time I am sure.

At the beginning of our day, this was what we saw on the navman - and we excitedly watched throughout the day as the numbers went down until our destination was closer and closer too.

The next town after Narrandera was Hay and beyond Hay, the Hay Plain. We remembered the Hay Plain very well from our journey 2 years ago and we weren't really looking forward to all the nothingness however, we really enjoyed it this time. We really do live in a beautiful country. We were happy to see the improvement to the land and how there had been some rain since we last drove through as well.

This is one of the photos I took on the Hay Plain as we were driving. It really is very flat but very beautiful too.

We stopped for the kids to have a little run around and to collect some cotton from the side of the road. While we were at the rest bay we decided to take a few photos - here is one of our little travelling family.

Our second day in the car was another 8 hour day but we didn't mind, we really did have a lovely day together. It was exciting to drive through three states in one day as well - NSW, Victoria then South Australia.

Not long after driving over the South Australian border we went through a produce checking station. This is where our car was checked to make sure we didn't take any fruit into South Australia as they are fruit fly free. The man checking took one look into the back of our car and realised there would have been no room for fruit if we tried, so we were sent on our way. The kids loved driving through the huge tyre that goes across the road too.

We decided to have one more stop before arriving at Mardi's house and that was in Mildura. We were in need of a lunch break and rest and when we saw an Op shop, we knew that was exactly where we needed to stop! So while hubby went to the bakery and had his lunch, we three headed into the RSPCA Op shop.

I am happy to say that we found a few cute things in this Op shop too. A yellow jacket for Mardi, a jacket for me and one for Emily as well as a pair of nerd sunglasses for Jasper. It was a fun stop for sure!

After our stretch and Op shop, we jumped back in the car and headed the last 1 1/2 hours to Mardi's place. We were SUPER excited to arrive at Mardi's beautiful home and to be able to spend three whole days with Mardi and her gorgeous family too.

And that brings me to the end of day two. If you would like to read about day two from Emily's perspective, head on over to her blog for some photos and a little movie too.

I will be back tomorrow with my Thrifty Thursday shares and day three of our trip too. I hope you are enjoying following along with us. xx Janelle