A few random long weekend photos

We've had an up and down weekend - Raspy McCoughypants had a tough Saturday, but seems to have shaken off the worst of his chest gloop. He's in pretty awesome spirits, and as I type this he's fast asleep (touch wood - last night he screamed from 10pm to 11pm). He's had a full on weekend so far, with brunch at the Press Room on Saturday morning and then Sam B's birthday party today. Tomorrow's junk trip has been cancelled, but seeing as this weekend is "Grave Sweeping" weekend, we'll still try and get out somewhere (our street is next to the cemetery and looks like Disneyland on Grave Sweeping days. I've got some random photos - I've got a pile more (especially of Sarah K and Bunky yesterday), but here are the ones I've had a pick through so far:

A sight we need to get used to - Bunky wandering the lounge and dining floor area.

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George and Rachel observing pass-the-parcel at Sam's party

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The boys asleep in the spare room.  Seriously, I don't know how Ben sleeps like that.

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The little man just before his bath tonight

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Bunky with his Aunty Kirstie this morning

Just before Aunty Kirstie took off back to Singapore after a whirlwind trip:

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Pokfulam Market Day

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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Baby group [Password = name of Keane family chocolate labrador]

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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Dim sum, birthdays, quiet time

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).

The Challis Family are very good looking

Weekend playtime

George's buddy Hugo popped in yesterday for a playdate and a swim, good times for all. I don't think there was a great deal of interaction going on, but they stared at each other a bit, and appeared to be happy with a spot of toy sharing. Here's George earlier in the day as he was watching the Canterbury v Otago game:

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And here's one of his little mate Hugo (who is a month or two older than George):

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As the playdate toddled along, the All Blacks were busy showing us that it wasn't just the Black Caps who couldn't catch a ball.  The lineouts - which I swear have sucked since 2000 - were abysmal, we dropped the ball in open play more times than I care to remember, and with almost 20 minutes to go and 10 points down, we chose to go for a try (instead of an easy penalty which would have put us within one score of the Boks).

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The simple way to fix the lineout problem would be to tell the lineout chaps that their match fee is paid according to the following formula:

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Match fee = (Number of own line outs won ÷ Number of own lineouts taken) x Normal Match fee

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So, if they take five lineouts in a game and lose three of them, then they would get 40% of their usual match fee. I suspect the stats would get much better if this was the case.

Still, traitorous beggar that I am, my emotional hedge came through - the Boks were paying $2.65 for the win, so my TAB account balance is looking ok this week.

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Finally, after coming to their collective senses and electing a President who can actually pronounce the word 'nuclear' (it's not "NOO-KEY-LURR", dude), a large section of sub-par-IQ Americans are panicking about the Nazi / Socialist / Muslim / Marxist / Baby killing / Grandma killing president in charge and have lost their collective minds.  These from the "We're not really sure what we're protesting" Protests in Washington DC yesterday:

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And my favourite one:

Saturday morning at the Stoep, Saturday evening at the bar

The Binnington Clan very kindly invited us along to join them for a day at Mui Wo - we had a bit of a play in the ocean and then had a great early lunch at the Stoep Restaurant (a South African barbeque place). Here are a few photos of the day - firstly, the locals call a spade a spade. And a sick bag a Vomit Bag: .

And a few of big Sam and little Eva:

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...as well as one of Rachel and Bunky:

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And tonight I went out to watch the rugby at a pub in Wan Chai, and took this on of my fellow rugby watchers (they had to go outside for their nicotine fix, thanks to the new anti-smoking laws):

Monday morning photos

Not much from yesterday - here's one from this morning, George playing with very special favourite cardboard tube:

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And one from last night - Angelo was in town, so we headed out with the cameras and took some photos in town:

Ash and Zoe picked a great morning to be in Hong Kong

I suspect they've just touched down at HKIA, so we'll probably see them in an hour or so.  It's stunning outside:

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Here's a bit of Bunky from last night:

A day out with team Fabio. Oops, I mean... Team Bornholdt.

We had a lovely afternoon in Stanley with Gavin and Diane Bornholdt - parents of Carl, who used to flat with Katy and Rachel back in Wellington.  It was a scorcher of a day, so we busted out the Blue Machine of Awesomeness (our car) and headed over to Stanley for a spot of lunch and shopping.  It was absolutely lovely catching up with Gavin and Diane on their first stopover - the start of a trip that sees them heading to Europe tomorrow and then on to Chicago in a few weeks (where Carl and Lindsey live). Unsurprisingly I took a few photos throughout the afternoon.  George was quite enjoying having some new faces around:

Baby Group Lunch

We had a lovely lunch with Rachel's baby group friends - this time with associated husbands. We had a great lunch out in Wan Chai at the Quarterdeck, and despite there being 6 children under 12 months old, there were no major meltdowns (George was close, with a little tearfest right at the start - but he chilled out and all was good after that).  I took a few photos of the afternoon, including a group one:

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... and one of everybody:

A morning at the beach

We had a lovely morning - we met the Binnington Clan at South Bay Beach for a spot of brunch and paddling in the water.  It's rather warm out there, and Bunky got nice and sweaty - and I believe he manage to sneak it a few rolls in the sand.  A great morning had by all, and I managed to get a few photos of our fun in the sun. Firstly, one of Bunky looking all pensive during breakfast:

Mark giving Sam some airtime in the water:

Emma at brunch:

And Eva with her daddy:

Big Chief Sittingupbyhimself

Note the very alert mummy right behind him.  If you're wondering whether she was ready to catch him, bear in mind that when he was 3 weeks old, that same mummy decided that he wasn't allowed to play rugby when he was older (in fact he's lucky he's not wearing a helmet in these photos...)

And a few from the other day - Alice and Harry's gorgeous little boy, Michael:

A few more from last week

Another from Sunday that I really liked:

And one more from Wednesday:

Photographing little people really is a lot of fun. They certainly aren't as fussy as adults in terms of what they look like in photos...

Sai Kung

If our trip to Sai Kung is anything to go by, Hong Kong road planners throw cooked spaghetti on a piece of paper, and then ask the road construction companies to "do the roads like that." Honestly - it was like driving through a spaghetti-themed maze complete with toll tunnels and psychotic taxi and minibus drivers.  Thankfully we had been given awesome directions and got to lunch without a hitch. Anyway, we had a lovely barbeque with friends Susannah and Sam (along with toddler Max and baby Matilda), and also saw the Hoffpeople there.  Although the weather went a bit poopy on us as soon as lunch was served, we still managed to eat outside and have a great time.  I took a few photos of various little people running around in the rain playing by the paddling pool:

We managed to get back from Sai Kung without getting lost, and after we got home, Bunky had a little swim and a teeny tiny photo session:

In other matters, Bunky's late feed is slowly being moved forward.  It's usually 10:30pm, but for the last week or so Rachel has been bringing it forward.  Tonight it comes to 9:40pm, and the aim is of course to eventually eliminate it altogether. So far he hasn't woken up any earlier in the morning, but time will tell whether he can eventually hit the 12 hour holy grail sleep.

Righto - off to watch a spot of tv and then hit the pillow.

Bunky got a new seat!

And it's red, like a fire engine...

Also met up with the Hoffmen this afternoon and took a few photos of their gorgeous little ones Evie and Bea. I haven't edited many yet, but here's one of Evie:

Making new friends, taking a dip

Uncle Ash and Aunty Zoe just left us, and although George was sad to see them go, he was very pleased to make some new friends.  He'll see them again in August when they come back, which is cool. A chilled out few days for the little man - he had plenty of time getting to know his new friends, and then this afternoon they accompanied him and his mummy down to the pool for a leisurely splash. To top off their whirlwind trip, Zoe gave Rachel a hand with George's bathtime, taking over the hairwashing duties from his daddy.

There are quite a few photos, so I've uploaded them as a little slideshow thingy.  Check out George's hip new BabyBanz sunglasses...

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An afternoon in Discovery Bay

Had a lovely afternoon with Sue, Steve, Hermione and Phoebe in Discovery Bay today.  Lovely food, a few glasses of wine in the sun, and easy conversation - a perfect way to spend Sunday afternoon.  While he was sleeping, George assumed a position that I couldn't resist photographing:

If that looks familiar...

Also from this afternoon, Steve with Sue - and an intruder on the left (Hermione):

A strategically placed shampoo bottle for the preservation of modesty

George graduated to the big person's bath yesterday - of late, George's bathtimes have usually ended up with more water on the floor than anywhere else. So we popped his little bath seat in the bath and filled the bath to a height of about 6 or 7 cm.  George was pretty laid back about the new bath approach, and seemed to enjoy having water tipped on him with a little cup - it also made things a bit easier for his mummy, as she didn't need to juggle his torso while cleaning his babyvomit-filled crevices.  We took a few photos of the little monster enjoying his business class bath, and you'll note that his mummy preserved his modesty using a cleverly placed shampoo bottle. Which George naturally wanted to play with.

We also had Team Binnington over for a few hours for brunch and a quick swim yesterday and I snapped off a few photos of Sam and Mark:

 

Note that clicking no longer leads to a big version - I installed a standard bug-fix "upgrade" to the software that runs this website, and the newest version of the website software won't let the lovely big picture viewing plugin work.  Oh the irony.

Finally, Rachel has insisted that I mention that on George's playdate on Friday, a half-Brazilian girl literally tried to get her leg over George (from his mummy's potentially embellished recollection of events, it sounds like she actually tried to roll on top of him).  He's such a stud...