Go the Mighty Hawks!

As you can see the Hawks truly are the "Family Club"!! Brandon considers himself a Hawk as does Cammie and they were both almost as excited as I was after the final siren of the Grand Final on the weekend.

For those of you who are unaware of the significance of this event.......just think of the U.S. equivalent of the SuperBowl, except in this case we are talking about the Greatest Game in the World!!

After watching the game at an Aussie Bar downtown and arriving home about 3am I was banished to the spare room....Cammie's reason, "You are WAY TOO excited to sleep in the same room as Brandon and I tonight. Don't you dare wake him up!".

All I had to say to that was GO THE MIGHTY HAWKS!!!!

Bye Bye Grandma...See you again soon!

After arriving in Canada about 9 hours before Brandon was born, my Mum left us last Saturday after almost 7 weeks. If you'd told me then that after 7 weeks of living with my Mum as a grown man that I would be sorry to see her leave, I potentially would have fallen to the ground in fits of laughter! As it turns out however, Cammie, Brandon and I were all very sorry to see her go and cannot thank her enough for everything she did for us while she was here.

Not only was she an amazing help with changing nappies, bathing, putting to sleep, baby sitting, feeding, reading books, playing games, spit-wiping, and all the other regular "babyish" tasks.......she was even more importantly a voice of calm and reason during times of worry and stress that I'm sure all first time parents go through...at least I hope they do! She also acted as our own personal seamstress, making Brandon's first Halloween costume, 4 Christmas stockings, and many other items to numerous to mention. Mum - I am proud to say that we were the envy of every new parent in Vancouver. Anyone who met you or who spoke to Cammie during the time you were here wanted to hire you for themselves.......a thought for the future maybe? ;-)

Brandon's 1st Halloween Costume (above)

Our question for you is what single moment was the BIGGEST highlight of your time with us?


Thank you so much for everything you did and for all the valuable advice you passed on. We are already looking forward to seeing you in January.

Thanks Uncle Knackers!

Another surprise visitor from the other side of the world. My brother Ben also dropped on our doorstep from Melbourne to meet his first nephew and newest member of the Thomas family! After some initial frustration, mainly him not being allowed within 6ft of Brandon for the first 5 days he was here because he picked up a bug on the plane, Ben, or Uncle Knackers as Brandon knows him did get to spend some quality time with Brandon.......even helping out with some of baby maintenance and teaching him everything he knows about computers.

In fact Ben and I even had time to head down to Seattle for the night and catch a Major League Baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees!

Thanks for coming so far to see us Knackers, it was really great to have you here and introduce you to Brandon.

Nice to meet you Grandad.

After the spending the day with my Mum for her birthday out on the water doing some Whale Watching I came home to quite a surprise......my Dad and his girlfriend Chris had flown over from Australia to surprise us and meet Brandon!

The proud Grandfather with his first Grandson.

Dad earning his accomodation!

Dad and Chris even managed to fit in a few days in Seattle, and some shopping on the way home at the Outlet Mall.

THANKS FOR COMING...IT WAS GREAT TO SEE YOU!!

Mother's Milk!

As my good friend Sean Pietersz would say there is nothing like some Mother's Milk after a hard day at work! Brandon and I both agree on that as you can see, it's just a question of who's milk we are talking about? We may not agree on this subject right now, but I have no doubt that in about 20 years father and son will see eye to eye on this great debate!! ;-)

As you can see both of these wonderful and nutritious beverages if drunk in excess have the ability to give you a headache!! Poor little Brandon has his first ever milk hangover.

Take Me Home Please!

You don't get long to acclimatise to your new role as parents in Canada. Cammie, Brandon and I were headed home when Brandon was only 36 hours old.
There was a small but impressive welcome home party for Brandon when he arrived back at the house which he seemed to enjoy.

Mummy baths Brandon for the 1st Time

More Special Bonding time with Mummy.....does she look happy?!! ;-)

(This one's for my desk at work)

A Picture of Perfection!!

Brandon has already agreed to be Daddy's Little Wingman!

School has already started - Brandon's 1st Lesson

Introducing Brandon James Thomas

Cammie and I are very proud to introduce you all to our new family member, our perfect little man, Brandon James Thomas. Brandon arrived at 4:11am on August 12, 2008 weighing in at a healthy 7 lbs 9 oz. To say Cammie was completely and utterly amazing would be the understatement of my life. She did the most fantastic job of bringing Brandon into the world and since then she has really shown her true colours as a natural mum!! I'm so so so proud of you Cam!! xx

(The Thomas' Family)

(Below - The very proud and relieved Dad, with his son)

(Below - 2 Ecstatic Grandmothers with their 1 hour old Grandson)

The Newest and Most Handsome Kid on the Block!!!

Stay tuned for much more to come!!!!

People who are late are so RUDE!!

Baby Thomas' due date of August 10th has come and gone and he has decided not to grace us with his presence! There is nothing more frustrating than someone who is unreliable when it comes to being on time. I'm sure you'd all agree it's not the best way to make a good first impression with his new family!! ;-)

Stay tuned for more news to come, hopefully sooner rather than later................

Fireworks on our last date before the Baby!!

I took Cammie out on Saturday night on what will probably be our last date before the arrival of Baby Thomas......and boy were there fireworks!!! ;-)

Every year Vancouver hosts the 'Celebration of Light' festival which is basically an international fireworks competition. Canada, U.S.A and China were all involved this year and I was lucky enough to get an invitation from one of my clients to go out into Vancouver Harbour on a luxury boat to watch the finale of the festival.....with the Vancouver City Skyline as the amazing backdrop. Hundreds of thousands of people turn out each night, most watching the fireworks from the beaches or high rise apartments surrounding the bay, but watching from the water with an open bar and buffet dinner was definitely a better way to go!!

Before dark and during dinner the boat took us on a tour of West Vancouver, which is home to some amazing multi million dollar waterfront mansions. After that we returned to the harbour to settle in for the fireworks show.

Golf with a View.

I was lucky enough to be able to golf at another amazing golf course this weekend. Furry Creek Golf Course is known to be one of the most picturesque courses in all of British Columbia and it certainly was impressive. I played with a friend I used to work with and her husband who used to be a golf pro at Furry Creek and Nicklaus North, so he was able to give me a few pointers during the round. Below is the courses signature 14th hole which is one of the nicest holes I have ever seen.

Other than being known for it's beautiful views, Furry Creek is also famous for being the course where the movie Happy Gilmore was shot. The picture below is actually the hole where Adam Sandler got into a fight with Bob Barker during the Pro-Am tournament. The creek you can see is the one they rolled down the hill and into the water on during the fight scene.

Yes! I'm still an Australian.

Only 611 days after my arrival in Canada I was officially presented with my Permanent Residence (PR) status today.

After getting a letter with my interview appointment time I turned up as the letter suggested by myself, armed only with 2 passport photos and my passport. Strangely enough the letter actually requested that only people who's name was on the letter should attend the interview due to space restrictions, so I was quite surprised when I arrived to a waiting room full of couples....about 40 in total. I'm not joking when I say that I was the only person at the office without a partner. As Cammie is sponsoring my application to stay in Canada I thought for a moment that maybe she had to be there in order for me to get my PR card, hence all the other people, so I quickly pulled out the letter again to check I hadn't read it wrong. I was correct, the letter did specifically ask only the permanent residence applicant attend. Why all the extra people then I hear you ask?! Anyway, after realising that I would still be able to get my PR card even without Cammie in attendance we were all led into the presentation room which is when I learned that what was described as an 'interview' in the letter was actually more of an semi-official ceremony. There was a stage with 2 large Canadian flags, a big Canadian Coat of Arms on the wall and an official presenter......I was starting to feel a little sad sitting there all by myself!! :-(

One by one we were called up asked a few questions relating to our criminal background and presented with our paperwork, a small Canadian flag and a copy of the "Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms". All the proud new Canadian residents stood up there with their new Residency Status and posed for pictures with the flag and shook hands with the presenter..it was all very exciting except....no one took any photos of me!! I did take this one when we got home especially for the blog.

Yes, I still am and always will consider myself to be an Australian, and a proud Australian at that! After today though I am also a relieved Australian, who is now considered to be a legal landed immigrant of Canada and no longer has to live with the immense fear that shortly after the birth of his son he may be evicted from the country, forcing his wife into a life of crime in order to provide food and shelter for our baby!

Summer Lovin'....Lovin' Summer!!

Summer has finally hit Vancouver after only 20 short wet months of living in the city!! We haven't seen a drop of rain in more than 2 weeks (which is literally unheard of in Vancouver) and the days are filled with blue skies, sunshine and birds whistling in the trees. Cam and I are trying to make the most of the Bermuda style weather and are eating as many meals as possible outside on our patio. I'm also trying to fit in as much golf course as possible while it's sunny and before the baby arrives, as I fear my golf career may hit a very abrupt end at that point!! The only downside of this fantastic weather is that the grass doesn't look so lush & green....not that I would ever ever complain about the lack of rain in Vancouver ;-)

As you can see from our backyard, there's not even any snow left on the mountains.

Baby Thomas' First Girlfriend!

Congratulations to our good friends Andrea and Dave who on the 5th July gave birth to their first child, a baby girl named Cailyn Regan Salmon. Cailyn's due date was actually May 24th so the fact that she was 3 weeks early has Cammie and I stressing out a little and feeling that we may have to spring into action at anytime!! :-)Cammie and I went to visit them on Monday night and the family seems to be settling in at home pretty well. Baby Thomas was pretty excited and kicking like crazy while Cammie was holding Cailyn.......I guess he's very keen to meet his first girlfriend!!!

Canada Day Gifts!!

I was lucky enough to receive several gifts on and around this year's Canada day....these were in addition to the public holiday that was very generously bestowed upon us.

1. This gift from the BC Government is the type of gift that just keeps on giving! A new Consumer based Carbon Tax that is applied to all fossil fuel purchases. This supposedly "revenue neutral" tax adds an extra 2.4 cents to every litre of gas/petrol you buy. Fantastic timing by the government given the already record high oil prices that only look to continue rising. I know most people who read this would only dream of paying $1.55 (CDN) for a litre of gas so I won't harp on too much about it for the moment. What this means for us is that a 30 minute drive to the U.S. will now save Cammie and I approximately $25 on a full tank of gas in our 4WD/SUV......a worthwhile road trip in my opinion.

2. $100 cold hard cash.....also from the BC Government!! Well not cold hard cash but a $100 Climate Action Dividend cheque for all British Colombians, to encourage us to go green. Although most people (including us) will probably spend the money on gas, there were several suggestions by the government as to what they think we should spend the $100 on. The most practical in my opinion was their suggestions to put the $100 towards the purchase of a Hybrid vehicle!!! Not sure $100 would even but the petrol cap but you have to admire their enthusiasm!!
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ecea1487-507c-43ef-ab88-5a972898e0b7&k=38130

3. 611 days after arriving in Canada, I am very happy to report (as much as the above points may suggest otherwise) that I should be receiving my PERMANENT RESIDENCY card later this month! It's been a long and tedious road which has included many hours of document completion, several different renewal and extension applications and more phone calls to the Canadian Immigration and Citizenship call centre than I care to remember....but we are almost across the finishing line. And, if everything goes to plan I will finally be a legal landed immigrant living without the fear of deportation just in time for the arrival on my Canadian/Australian Son.

What an exciting week it's been.....with all those gifts anyone would think Christmas had come early this year!!! ;-)

Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day for Tuesday 1st July everyone!! Fortunately as Australia day is in Australia, Canada Day is a public holiday in Canada which means a well deserved 4 days week for us! We spent the day enjoying the sunshine with some new friends we made at our recent Pre-natal class. Meshel and Rob invited us to a BBQ at their place which included plenty of Mexican beer....go figure!! This couple are also expecting a boy and are due 3 weeks before us, so I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty more of them in the months to come!!

Home Town Baby Shower.

Today Cammie's friends threw her a Local Derby Baby Shower.....for all her friends in Vancouver. As you can see from the photos, a great time was had by everyone who attended. Cammie and I are both really thankful to have such amazing friends and family to host these great events and help us plan for the arrival of Baby Thomas.

Special thanks to Lindsay and Stephanie who hosted today's shower....but also to all those who attended for the generous gifts that you gave us....even our friends that couldn't make it sent along gifts, all of which we really, really appreciate!!

Guess who came last in the diaper changing race? YES, the mother to be!!! ;)

As you can see, there was just as much excitement back at our house.....this is how I spent my afternoon while the girls were all 'showering'!!! This is what I call a perfect Sunday afternoon!!!