More from Galle and Sigiriya

Kirstie and Robin rehearsing for their House & Garden photoshoot

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Rachel and George in the swimming pool at Vil Uyana (Sigiriya)

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Charlie the Explorer at Vil Uyana in Sigiriya

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Arabella and Paddy in Galle

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George in the yard of the Galle villa

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Sarah with Kala's puppy, Jemma

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A few random photos from the memory card

I have a load of photos, but plucked out a few to upload before bedtime: .

George leaning on a whale bone in the Galle villa yard

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Doing an elephant jigsaw puzzle with Rachel

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Divebombing: Robin (L) and Tim (R)

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Sunset at the Galle Face Hotel

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George with his new favourite toy (bathroom scales from the hotel room in Colombo)

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First photo of our holiday

I certainly didn't expect it to look like this: .

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We were about to board the Singapore to Colombo flight just after midnight, and who should we bump into at the boarding gate? Mr Alex "Chuck Norris is my homeboy" Bellingham, formerly of Hong Kong and currently of Spain.

Alex was en route to some business meetings in Dubai and was about as surprised as we were at the chance encounter (given that the last time we saw him was when we were farewelling him and the family from Hong Kong in 2009).  We had a lovely - but quick - catch up, then boarded for the painfully timed flight (left at 1am Singapore time, arrived in Colombo three and a half hours later at around 2am local time).  Alex put on the eyemask, earplugs and passed out... we tried to settle an overtired little boy who spent much of the flight screaming.  Oops.

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A short break

We're off to Sri Lanka tomorrow, so unless free wireless is plentiful (highly unlikely), it'll be fairly quiet around here.  If I do come across free wireless internet anywhere, I'll try and upload a photo or two of the little man (or beaches, to make you jealous). Back again on the 19th - I'll leave you with a photo of the little chipmunk from this morning  :)

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Cabinets, Visitors, Blurry photos

The poor little fellow is still a bit sick at the moment, but when he's awake he's still pretty much his happy old self (well, a snottier, raspier version of himself).  He's started to crawl with purpose now, and has discovered that by plonking himself on his knees, there is a whole new world of stuff to play with.  This particular cabinet is full of our good wine glasses, and has now been secured with a rather ugly set of plastic cable ties: .

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On Saturday, Jacq and Tristan came through for a day's stopover en route to London - George had a lovely day with his new friends. Here's one of Jacq reading George one of his favourite Hairy MacLary books:

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Here's one that was sitting on the memory card - Granny B and George playing on the grass.  Granny B was plucking little flowers and blowing them through the air at George (look just in front of his nose):

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And finally this one - we had a game of Chase around the lounge yesterday. When he's at full speed, it's pretty much impossible to focus the camera on him.  So here's his slightly blurry manic face:

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A few leftover phone photos

The first was taken yesterday when Bunky came to visit me at work, and the rest are randoms from New Zealand: .

Playing on the grass outside my work

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A random church that we walked past (in Havelock North)

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In the plane from Napier to Auckland (that's George's hair on the left...)

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Aunty Momo and Rachel talking in the kitchen while G busies himself with Lego

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Reading time with Paddy

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Cellphone photos

This year I'm trying to take more photos on my phone - the image quality is pretty crappy, but there are plenty of programs available that allow me to do a bit of creative editing on the camera (I have to confess that I have a soft spot for the fake polaroid, having owned a real one once upon a time).  Anyway, it's forcing me to think a bit more about getting a photo right first time, rather than trying to salvage something on the computer afterwards. I just pulled a bunch of photos off the phone from our New Zealand trip, so here you go:

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Paddy and George enjoying story time

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Playing a George-created game (play with the speaker base, sit up, get tickled, then start again) with Granny B

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Pulling himself up to standing, cheered on by Aunty Jane

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Paddy pouring bubbly for the Keane ladies

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Swing time at the park

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Sneaking out from under a chair

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And finally, one for his London-based godparents:

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How's the weather out there this week?

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A few more random weekend shots

Bunky had a pretty rough flight last night, and I'm too knackered to pretty-ify any of these photos from the weekend (I just dragged them off my memory card).  Normal service will resume soon.  Oh, and I took a crapload of photos on my phone too - I quite like going through photos on there.  The camera on the phone is a bit crap, but that does lead to some cool (inadvertent) effects. Anyway, here are some from the big camera:

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Aunty Momo trying to distract George from important tasks on the grass with Paddy and Rachel

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George with his Aunty Jane, who is definitely in his top two favourite aunties list

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Granny B, Rachel and Jane enjoying some bubbly on our last night in Auckland

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Just before George's mini-party on Sunday afternoon. L to R: Aunty Momo, Aunty Jane, Uncle Eugene, George and Granny B

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He wanted the sunglasses but ended up with a kiss on the forehead.  He was unimpressed.

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Explaining the nuances of squeaky hammers to Paddy

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Defying gravity in the back yard with Aunty Jane

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