Hello Cousin Sophie and Kate!

We were visited this last week by our family in the UK. My brother Matt, along with his wife Anna and their twin girls Sophie and Kate all made the long trek from London to Vancouver to come and see us. We haven't seen them in almost 16 months so not only was this the first time they were meeting Brandon but last time Cam and I saw Sophie and Kate they were just babies.....how things change!!

A heat wave hit Vancouver while they were here but that's OK we'd recently installed a pool in the backyard which the girls made great use of (Sophie on the left, Kate on the right)

Brandon taking the tie to get to know his Uncle Matt.

And his Cousin Kate, taking the time to get to know Brandon......ooh!! Sophie is in line behind her for a turn a kissing Brandon.

The Thomas Children trying to step it up outside (L-R: Kate, Brandon, Sophie)

And chillin' on the couch inside.

An added bonus........Grandma showed up from Melbourne.

Mum decided at the last minute that she simply couldn't miss the rare opportunity of all her grandchildren being together so she decided to make a last minute trip to Vancouver.

Needless to say I think she thought she had died and gone to heaven!

Grandma shows her grand kids one of the 14,678 photos she took in the week she was here.

Brandon had a great time meeting the English Chapter of the Thomas Family!!

Nobody in the house would be brave enough to say it was a relaxing visit, with 3 children under 2 years old life was never dull but we did find sometime to relax and catch up after all the troops went to bed. My cousin Steve and his wife Sherree who are based in Thailand have been spending the last 4 month in US only about 3 minutes from us also joined us one night for dinner.

Thanks for coming across Matt, Anna, Sophie, Kate and Mum.....it was fantastic to see you all.

The Calgary Stampede - The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.

The Calgary Stampede is widely regarded as the biggest party in Canada. It runs for 2 weeks and basically the whole city parties for the whole time. Many people in Canada say that people in Calgary get an extra 2 weeks of holidays that the rest of the country doesn't get. The Stampede is the 2nd largest Rodeo in North America and is the self proclaimed 'Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth'.

This is the scene for the rodeo. There was bronco riding, bull riding, steer wrestling, barrel racing and so much more on offer! Rob managed to get us great seats in the Platinum section for the Semi-Finals which was fantastic.Cammie started to make friends early in the day.

The real party starts after the rodeo finishes. Cam and I are in line to get into Nashville North which is the hottest place to be and features some pretty impressive live Country Music acts.

Talking about impressive, all the girls got into the Cowboy groove and looked amazing!

Rob and Meshel tear it up on the dance floor!

The Thomas' and the Lindstrands posing for the paparazzi.

There was plenty to look at in Nashville North.........

On the stage.......

And off......!

By the time we left Nashville North, I think I had managed to convince myself I was actually a Cowboy!!

It really was a fantastic day, thanks so much to Rob and Meshel for getting us the tickets and showing us such a good time!

Calgary and The Lindstrands

After our adventure in the Rockies we returned to Calgary to spend a few days with our friends Rob, Meshel and Jack Lindstand. We met the Lindstrand's at our pre-natal classes over a year ago so Jack and Brandon are the same age. We haven't seen them since New Years Eve so it was great to catch up with them, see the boys hang out together and see how much Jack had grown since we last saw him.

They hit it off immediately, you'd hardly know they hadn't seen each other for 6 months!

Brandon introduced Jack to his beloved smoothie.

Does it look like he enjoyed it?!! ;-)

Brandon even bought his mate across a matching outfit for his birthday.

They had a great time together.

On the way home from dinner one night, Jack even shared his blanket with Brandon in the back of the car.

Brandon tried his best to get into the Cowboy groove at the lake just around the corner from the Lindstrand's house.

Once the boys went to bed, we all had a chance to catch up and relax. Rob and Meshel had a couple of other friends down for the weekend too so it was fun night!

L-R: Simon, Meshel, Rob, Cam, Tara and Craig.

The night started off quietly......

But quickly escalated when we started talking about the Calgary Stampede that we were scheduled to go to the next day. We did our best to get in the mood for it!!

Lake Louise

Next Stop was an hour further down the road at the absolutely amazing Lake Louise. We were again lucky enough to be staying at the Fairmont in one of the largest and most beautiful rooms both Cam and I have ever stayed in.

Immediately after we arrived it was time for Brandon to take a nap, so rather than hang out in the hotel room Cam and I covered him up and went for a 90 minute walk around the lake while Brandon slept the entire time.

Brandon had no idea what he was missing out on.....what an amazing view!!

He was pretty keen to make up for the time he lost sleeping......

And one with his Mum!!

Brandon figured that the view might be even more impressive from an elevated position so he climbed on my shoulders.

Some quiet time for father and son to reflect together at one of the world's natural wonders.

This was the view from the hotel bar in the lobby.

And finally, this was the view we had from our room.........not bad hey?!!

Brandon in Banff.

The first stop of our road trip in Calgary was Banff. It started with me picking up the rental car. An ongoing joke between Cam and I is that she always rents the smallest car they have in their fleet and I always want to upgrade to something a little larger and/or more exotic. Unfortunately when I arrived at Budget Car Rental they had no small cars left so I was 'forced' to upgrade. Budget was also generous enough to give us a discount for the inconvenience. When I went back to pick up Cammie and Brandon I told her I got an upgrade and a discount......she didn't believe me until she went out into the driveway and saw this Bad Boy parked there!!

Talk about EXOTIC, this V8 - 16 seater bus was fully decked out with plush 'pleather' seating, a bitchin' stereo system and last but not least a fire extinguisher in case Brandon got rowdy in the back. It was just what the doctor ordered for Brandon, Cammie and I to enjoy our road trip in the luxury we deserve!

We were also lucky enough to be staying at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel which is without a doubt one of the most amazing hotels I have ever been to. It's a huge and amazingly preserved castle. Which over looks a huge valley in Banff. Unfortunately because of the size of the castle the photos cannot do it justice.

Brandon had a great time in the hotel pool. He was flying around like Superman and showing off to all the other guest.

The views from the hotel were pretty spectacular...again we cannot do it justice with the photos.

Breakfast at one of the restaurants.