It's almost Chinese New Year - Kung Hei Fat Choi!

It's almost Chinese New Year - and we get a four day weekend. Unfortunately the weather forecast is rotten (to put it mildly), but hopefully we'll still be able to go out and about for a few of the days. Kristine (Rachel's room mate at work) and Josh (Kristine's almost-but-not-quite-but-will-soon-be-her-husband) are coming over for brunch on Saturday, and we have plans to go to Karin's house for the fireworks on Monday (which might be moved to Tuesday, thanks to the weather...) I'm sure we have other things to do inbetween, but regardless of the weather it'll be lovely to spend four days in a row with Bunky.

Aperture 3 from Apple just came out, and I'm doing a 30 day trial on it to see whether it's worth purchasing. It's basically a slicker version of iPhoto on steroids. Seems to do pretty much everything the Photoshop does, but without the complicated menus - a bit more user friendly. I would be very surprised if I didn't pick up the full version at the end of the 30 days, but I've still got a bit of exploring to do.

I'll leave you with a photo of Bunky that I took this morning...

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Photos from this morning

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Narcissism (and other morning photos)

What could possibly be keeping George's attention? He's absolutely fascinated with something: .

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...silly question.  He is of course admiring himself on the computer screensaver:

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Some other random photos from this morning:

Getting a closer look at... himself

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Just chilling, leaning on the computer chair

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Standing, with a little help from Rachel

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And finally my favourite photos from the morning - see what happens when he finds sheepskin....

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Swings and slides

The one person eating machine had a fun day today - morning was the usual "how many lego blocks can I fit in my mouth" shenanigans and then we headed down the hill to play on the swings and slides in the yukky polluted Hong Kong air. Rachel had to head out at lunch, so it was boys' morning at the apartment. I had heard that George had been eating enough to feed a rugby team, but I hadn't seen him lunching for a week or so. Seriously, the boy can eat.

In the presence of his daddy, George ate two sausages, part of an avocado, some cheese, a load of yoghurt, some blueberries, some strawberries, some milk and a bit of pear. I was gobsmacked at the amount of food that disappeared down his waiting gob.

In the afternoon I ended up taking him downstairs where the children of the building tend to congregate. He's a bit young to really do anything apart from eat a toy and crawl around watching the big kids, but he had a great time cuddling up to his favourite golden retriever, Trostsky.

It's almost dinnertime here, so I'll leave you with a few photos of the Bunkmeister and his mummy down at the playground.

But... before I go - HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTY JACQ! (Each of those words is a separate hyperlink, by the way...)

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Oh dear. Nothing is safe.

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Banana smoothie moustache

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Photos: Morning lounge, evening bath

A few more random photos from around and about the house - we did actually get out this weekend, but apart from the photo that Sam took yesterday, I haven't got much to show for it. Ooops. .

Ben having a tough old time on Sunday afternoon

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The little monkey in the lounge this morning. Whenever he spots something made of sheepskin or anything that vaguely resembles a pillow, he drops his little head, puts his finger in his mouth... and has a little rest.  It really is the cutest thing ever.

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In the bath tonight - playing the "throw toy out of the bath and look pleased with myself" game

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He covers quite a lot of ground during bathtime...

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Guest photographer

This photo was taken by little Sam Binnington - aged 3 and a bit (we had lunch with him and the rest of the Binnington Clan on Ssaturday, and I let Sam take a few photos with my camera): .

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He did a pretty good job, huh?

Also, looking at the sheer awesomeness of my afro, I'm guessing my next haircut isn't too far away - although I could probably blame this one on the wide angle lens.

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A random assortment of Bunky shots. And a cat.

Just a few photos from the last few days - the weather has been a bit rotten, so we haven't really ventured outside at all.  I did end up buying myself a cheap softbox and lightstand yesterday, so I might start being a little bit more adventurous with lighting (I might have to get poor little George some sunglasses). .

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What goes up must come down

Someone rather famous once said that any idiot could get up Mount Everest - but it took real skill to get back down again. George can now pull himself to standing, as you can see in the photo sequence below.  Unfortunately, getting back down to his backside is the real challenge.  At the moment he just pulls himself up and then wails until someone helps him back onto his bum.

Unsurprisingly, this approach does seem to be working for the little tyrant...

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Not much else going on really - here are a few shots I took this morning of the little man playing on his birthday car from Suki and Queenie.  He's not quite self-powered yet; he can go backwards with no problem, but moving forward is a bit of a challenge at the moment.  He does love riding it though:

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