Egg hunt - in Chinese!

This year, I decided to give riddles in Chinese! I added hanyu pinyin for the more difficult words, especially for Yang and Yu. 

Can you guess?

1. 如果有面包，可以把我放在上面慢慢烤，好好吃的！
2. 薯片在哪里？还有糖果呢？要看电影了！
3. 这里的知识满满的，让我一页一页翻…
4. 快点找到我！不然我会硬到咬不下去！
5. 我喜欢在这里陪爸爸工作…
6. 这里又大又黑。但是我不怕，因为有披萨的味道！
7. 我不需要加热，为什么把我放在这里呢？
8. 别理我，我太困了…
9. 我喜欢在这里陪妈妈打字看书…
10. 救命啊！好多夹子快把我夹死了！

Answers:

1. Toaster
2. TV cabinet
3. Bookshelf
4. Freezer
5. Papa's desk
6. Oven
7. Microwave
8. Bed
9. Mama's desk
10. box of cloth pegs - this was a bonus round, found by Papa in the end :p

These spots are no different from last year except that they had to read Chinese riddles :p We did the egg hunt yesterday as we would be out today at Mum's place. Maybe I should have done this at Mum's place - new spots to hide!

Yu found this not from the riddle as he spotted it earlier!

He was keeping his teddy bear under his blanket and saw an egg there but he kept real quiet. Too quiet. My suspicion increased when he asked whether there was any toy in the egg. Coz the eggs this time were Cadbury eggs wrapped in colourful foil, not Kinder Bueno which they are familiar with.

So when I gave him his first riddle, he went straight to his bed without reading it!! I had to make him read it later *.*

All found!

Of course there must be some drama. Last year, Kai was unhappy with the toys in his Kinder Bueno. This year, Kai thought his riddles were the most difficult and so the game was not fair. They were not the most difficult. In fact, I purposely gave him two super easy ones knowing he would complain! The easiest was for Yu definitely - more so I didn't have to write so much hanyu pinyin! 

Anyway, we almost took him out of the game after his first egg. Then he didn't look carefully for the remaining eggs and ended up crushing the bookshelf one coz he just anyhow flipped the books about *.* We have been having difficulties with Kai these days but more on that another day...

A floor bed again

We finally got rid of the bunk bed!

I felt very uncomfortable with it coz it felt creaky and would rock every time Kai climbed up! I was so paranoid about the top bunk crashing down with Yu below!!!

Kai used to sleep up there only on non-school days until year end holidays last year coz with Yu in primary school this year, all three slept in the same room. This meant that I couldn't lie down next to Kai anymore - don't dare to put my weight on the upper bunk!

Some more, he disturbed his brothers on their bed all the time and it was difficult to lie down peacefully with them. And when he dozed off first which was usually the case, the younger ones were often still awake and would disturb him!

So this week, we took down the upper bunk, shifted the beds about a bit and moved Kai to sleep on his own in his own room. My ears suffered a lot of complaints *.* But I can finally lie down with Kai at bedtime :)

On Thursday, we moved the lighted mattress back on the floor so that Kai could sleep with his brothers on non-school days. But at bedtime, my ears suffered again - Kai let Yang but not Yu step on his mattress when getting on/off their bed. Had to bring in Sito to settle this coz Kai always doesn't think I'm fair to him.

It could have been so fun!

Anyway, next week when the bulk disposal truck come by, we will dismantle the bed that Yu is sleeping on and dump it. Then we can shift a bed back from Kai's room which is smaller and more cramped. We don't need four beds anyway and one bed has a broken board after incessant jumping *.*

清明节 Qing Ming 2023

It's the Qing Ming period again. We didn't have a gathering for some years due to COVID though I know some elders went together to pray. This year, it happened that Yan was back and staying with Ah Yee so the Qing Ming gathering was a good time for the family to reunite a bit.

Then we happened to go to our new place for measurements last Saturday. We had wanted to let the kids sit at the staircase to play Sito's phone while we were with the interior designer but Sito had a better idea - drop them off at Mum's place! Luckily she was free. And we found out that Mum and Dad were going to 光明山 that afternoon so we decided to let the kids tag along. Only Sito went with them as I had a church wedding to attend.

They went in AhYe's pickup from work. The kids seemed to have enjoyed the ride! I remember enjoying rides in pickups as a kid, heh! Not common these days... They ended up at Macs after that and took the train home. I was maybe two trains behind them all the way from Kovan!

AhYe teaching them about their ancestors

Hope they learnt something from the experience. It would be great for them to carry on the tradition...

Yesterday was Good Friday and also the Qing Ming gathering for my side of the family. It was a wonderful day for the kids. They got to meet their second cousins finally and played with them. When we last met A in person, she was a baby who was afraid to let me carry her, and now she's almost ten! Later she let me hug her - so nice! :)

We were saying it's sad that their second cousins of their age range were in different continents - two in UK and two in Canada. Two more second cousins in Singapore were older and girls so can't really click...

Playing Uno - Yang and Yu got distracted by TV and toys

This one got very comfortable with JiuJiu...

This year, we stayed in the house and did not go to 碧山亭 like before. We started a bit late as we ran out of incense sticks! But eventually, we got down to praying. And then it was a period of waiting and burning of incense paper. My kids saw the burning last Saturday so they continued with their TV... During the wait, we also took family photos - all of us and by generation. Ours was the largest group!

Starting now

All of us!

The three younger ones played with B's toys

Our ancestors must have known that the kids were waiting - Yu had gone to the table at least twice and once almost grabbed a snack box! - so we got "approval" to start eating at the very first try!

A spread of food including a cup of coffee for Grams :)

The kids' table

After lunch, Sito and S brought the five kids to the playground. The two men chatted at the playground while the wives chatted with the cousins at the dining table. When they came back, we were still chatting! So they went down again after a break in front of the TV. 

The remaining cousins enjoying durian puffs while chatting

Looked at old photos - so much memories!

This one asked for pandan cake

It happened that LY just renovated the shophouse second floor so we went over to have a look. The rest of us hadn't been there for some 30 years since the provision shop closed! So much memories...

Where a rattan chair used to be

At the balcony

Ah Yee and Mother in the kitchen

Behind the kitchen were the WC and bathroom. The WC used to be a squat pan and little me couldn't use one so I pooped on newspaper laid out on the floor outside the toilet!!!

Came out of the shophouse to find these five playing catching

So many of us, great for 老鹰抓小鸡！

They were all so cute!

Next was ice cream time at Macs!

Oh yes, the adults sat at another table to chat. The kids were chatting among themselves and quite happy. Then more wanted fries even though Yang and Yu couldn't finish their ice cream *.*

Yu was too engrossed with newfound love - BBQ sauce - and didn't turn for the photo

Oldest to youngest with the two monkeys holding hands - so sweet!

Yan and me - finally a photo together after we forgot when we met for lunch on Monday!

It was a great reunion + Qing Ming gathering. When shall we meet again??