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This afternoon we headed up to Tai Tam Reservoir for a short walk - partly to get Bunky out and about, and partly to test drive one of those baby backpacks that someone had kindly given us. We discovered two things on our walk. Firstly (apparently not a real word, but I'm using it anyway), it appears to be rather comfortable in the backpack:
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Secondly (also not a real word but I'm using it anyway) and probably more importantly... Bunky seems to have taken a shining to ice cream:
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This morning we took the Bunky down to Cyberport to eat grass play in the sun. No need to really say anything else - the photos speak for themselves. Kiddo had a lovely time (except when his chin met the concrete step during his ascent of said step...) .
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Saturday was a funny day - we went to gorgeous little Ava's first birthday party in Kennedy Town, where Bunky proceeded to burst into tears every 15-20 seconds. Someone nudged him - tears and wailing. Dropped a toy - tears and wailing. Someone looked at him in a funny way - tears and wailing. It was most uncharacteristic of the little munchkin, and we can only really put it down to it being a little bit loud for him. Or he's a bit of a wuss. Probably too early to definitively tell on that front. Anyway, a few photos of the beautiful little birthday girl (oh - that's George's curly hair on the left in the first photo...the only photo of him not crying):
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In the evening we went to Sam and Mary's for pre-Christmas drinks. Had a lovely time and a great meal - and Sam and Mary had even organised a secret santa for everyone as well. They're about to take Christmas Holidays closely followed by a short sabbatical holiday, so we won't see them again until around April next year. We met some lovely people, including a Canadian vet whose cousin I worked with in Canada in 1997. It's a small, small world...
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This one from Central - I took it looking down the road where the wet markets begin: .
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A friend of Shay (in Emma's baby group) was looking for someone to take a few photos of her children, so after a few back and forth emails, we met at Cyberport on Saturday afternoon to see if we could get a few photos done. After the boys had a quick rock-throwing session in the Cyberport fake-creek, we ended up having a great time and getting some lovely photos out of the session (they even managed to sit still long enough for me to get a few photos of them with their little sister, who at the tender age of 9 months old obviously couldn't keep up with her big brothers):
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A few from this afternoon down at Cyberport - towards the end of the afternoon the lawns looked a little less green. Mainly because Bunky ate most of the grass. .
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A good day of play and shopping for the little Bunkster, although during his lunchtime nap, his butt trumpet ejected some of the most evil sludge I have ever seen. Gross, little dude, gross. Shot into town to pick up some bits and pieces, got our car washed at the underground carpark (pretty clever service offered there - and it seemed that they had no shortage of takers either), and then stopped at Fuel (the HK branch of the Wellington cafe) to say hi to Sanjay and have a rather magnificent coffee. Note they're already doing rather well - check this out.
Right - a few photos from the day:
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Some random dude at Fuel this afternoon
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A few more of Fuel (I took these for Sanjay a while ago - but I don't think I've uploaded them here before)
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The photograph that will be accompanying my "Father of the Year" entry form
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Thought I'd share a few more from the birthday party last weekend, including one of Rachel and George taken before we left for the party: .
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We had a lovely afternoon - after George's sleep and video Skype session with his grandmother, we went to the South side of the island and walked from Deepwater Bay to Repulse Bay (a pretty easy 25 minute stroll along the waterfront). On the way back we stopped at the wonderful Coco Thai Restaurant, where Mummy and Daddy enjoyed some spring rolls and some chicken wrapped in pandan leaf, while George enjoyed some rice crackers (he seemed to enjoy them). I didn't take my camera, but got this one of George eating his Mummy's hair just after we came home in the afternoon (I took it on my phone). .
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I did however have my camera when we got home, and managed to take this photo of a rather gorgeous sunset. Sunsets are coming a lot earlier these days - winter is almost upon us (for me that's a good thing, but Rachel doesn't like it as much). That said, it was a mid 20 degree Celsius day to day - doesn't feel like winter at all...
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George attended another birthday party yesterday. This one was at a lovely park that we had never been to before - a few minutes up the road from The Peak. It was a lovely afternoon, and George had great fun playing with his mates, eating random plastic toys, and munching on grass. A thoroughly relaxing and lovely afternoon - and certainly a park that we'll be visiting again now that the weather is coming right. .
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Clockwise from left: Harry, Bunky bumping heads with Mikey, Bunky pursuing orange ball
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And I simply couldn't resist... a photo of Sarah K and me. I took it when I was showing her how to take photos using the iMac. We're so damned hot.
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Random arty farty photo - from my walk home
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George's new bath toy alphabet presented me with a fairly irresistible photo opportunity
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We jumped on the Star Ferry with the Binningtons yesterday, and although Bunky was feeling a little under the weather (and still is), we had a great time and he even managed a 90 minute snooze while we lunched at Mark and Emma's. Last night was Diwali night, and our building had its usual Indian buffet and drinks downstairs - delicious. Not a late night, but oooomph I was full by the time we left. Today has been a quiet one, as Bunky is still pretty clogged up and grumpy. Hopefully he'll be over it in a few days.
Anyway, a few photos from the weekend so far:
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The boys spending the afternoon in the stereo cabinet (it provides valuable warmth to their butts). The little NEC modem is what beams low quality, overly censored, five year old substandard television programmes chock full of ridiculous advertisements straight to our television. Ah, technology.
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Rachel and George outside the TST Star Ferry terminal
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This morning, just before I woke him from his post-breakfast nap
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Enjoying his delicious nectarine
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He's either concentrating on complicated maths problems, or filling his nappy. You guess which.
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George has a new face - the squishface. Usually pulled out when anticipating something awesome (read: "food"), but sometimes pulled out when he's excited about nothing in particular:
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And a few other random photos from today:
Trying out his new car seat and not very happy about it. Seriously, what a little drama queen.
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On mummy's shoulders
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I couldn't resist. Hong Kong parking at its finest in the IFC2 carpark this morning. If you think this is bad parking, you should see some of the driving...
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We took the little man down to the monthly market, where he got to sit in the sun and hang with his mate Sam. Photos below are of Bunky and a few friends who were also there:
Sam with Cam and Carolin
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Bunky with his favourite wooden mouse
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Carolin (with blurry Cam in the foreground on the right)
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Nick with little Gus in "rugby ball" position
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Bunky and mummy (of course)
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Emma and Mark asked me to take a few photos for their baby group, which is shortly disbanding due to the repatriation of some of its members. They are a fantastic bunch of really friendly people, and it was great fun - although a little exhausting (fourteen adults and fourteen children!) I've popped a few of the photos from the afternoon below (with some rough edits - I need to sit down for a few hours and do proper edits on all of them):
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Ok, so no one actually said this to Bunky, but he was pretty damned vocal during our brunch at The Press Room today. Fortunately we had some very understanding ladies sitting next to us, and they happily waved and smiled at his lordship as he warmed his lungs up. Thankfully, a piece of his mummy's Croque Monsieur kept little Monsieur quiet for a few moments, and then a special order of toast (which the restaurant very kindly didn't charge us for) kept him happy - at least until he worked out how far he could throw that toast.
Needless to say, we gobbled our own food and left pretty quickly - despite it being a fairly vibrant and noisy place, Bunky's vocal chords were easily standing out above the rest. It was nice to get out of the house though...
Here's a photo that was taken just before Little Mr Shoutypants got going:
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Another photo from this morning (unfortunately I was only able to take it on my phone) - Rachel went to wake the little man up at 10am and found him at the wrong end of the cot, with his arm sticking out of the bars, and his newest teddy bear ("Flat Ted") on his head:
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Awww, bless.
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A hectic weekend for the little man, not helped by us thinking that today's birthday party was yesterday. On Saturday we got as far as about 30m from the birthday boy's driveway before we realised that we were a day early. Ah well, at least George got a swim out of it. This morning started with dim sum with the McBride clan in Wan Chai. The always reliable and extremely child-friendly Renaissance Harbourview:
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Which was followed by a nap and then a visit to little Riley's house for his first birthday celebration, just around the corner from where we live. That's the birthday boy Riley on the left and George's playmate Sam H on the right:
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And finally a little bit of quiet time for Bunky with his Mummy. Clearly, Daddy is quite hilarious:
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It's a short week this week - Thursday is China's Labour Day. We'll just enjoy the long weekend by chilling with the little man (although I'll probably need to head into work on Friday for at least some of the day).
A strange mix of photos: One of Ben asleep on the couch this morning, one of Bunky wearing his now obligatory blueberry facemask, and one from Kennedy Town (taken from the car):
The weekend started with a bang - George visited my office and was manhandled and photographed by everyone who came near him. He coped admirably - here's a quick one I took of him with Suki (my secretary):
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Saturday morning we headed to Wagyu - a restaurant in town which apparently did pretty good brunch too. It was really good and great value, and even George quite enjoyed himself (he had home made bolognaise courtesy of his mummy). Here is a fairly blurry photo of Bunky making a bit of noise on Rachel's knee:
Check out the teeth- they're really starting to show now. He doesn't seem overly bothered by them though.
As I walked into the restaurant, I was struggling with the stroller (minus George, who was already inside) and trying to get up their front step. A Hong Kong princess was also going in, and I moved aside to let her through. Her thanks to me was to then let the door close in my face and on the stroller.
Thankfully, Karma took over, and 45 minutes later (much to my amusement) she was still sitting alone, waiting for her tablemates. Sucker. I took a photo of the princess so that I could savour the moment at a later date:
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This made me laugh too - a bus advertisement for English tutors (who reportedly pull in about a million HK per month). You'd think the English tutors might have proofed their ad:
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And a photo of his lordship and his driver on the way back to the car:
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On Sunday we decided to get out and about and ended up at the Peak for a walk. Not the greatest weather (lots of pollution), but I got a few photos of Bunky and his driver:
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And finally... post dinner shenanigans: face painting with banana and yogurt.
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