The golden path

Round 21: Autumn 2014

last update/next update

Tate Benton is 44, Zelda is 39, Josie is 12 and Jack and Charlie are both 2.
(Leontine is 72 and Finn, Claudia and Victoria are all 13)

Narrated by Tate Benton

Our family has changed so much over the last two years. Our daughter Josie is now 12 and has already decided she wants to be a doctor. Of course, we don't want to pressure her but I think all of our chess games helped her earn the genius grant scholarship she was recently awarded.


She's a hard worker and I think if anyone can get into med school, Josie can!

And of course, we now have two two year-olds in the house! We were a little surprised when we found out Zelda was pregnant with Charlie while we were in the process of adopting Jack. But everything worked out for the best in the end.

People probably think we're crazy but we'd actually both like to have another! We don't know if we ever will, because it took so long for Zelda to get pregnant with Charlie as it is and she's now 2 years older. But if it happens, we'd be thrilled.

I worked really hard to renovate the restaurant I bought and I'm finally ready to open. It's still pretty unimpressive from the outside and needs a lot more work.

The inside looks much more inviting now and I'm so proud of it.

I'm the chef, of course. You can see here that the kitchen needs a bit of a makeover as well but it's clean and functional, so it'll do for now.

I've hired two women to work alongside me, one as server and the other as host. No complaints so far!

On the night the restaurant was supposed to open, Josie came home from school with the flu. Gosh, that cough was so scary sounding!

Zelda and I were both expected at the restaurant, so we asked Mum to come and watch Josie. Josie insisted that 12 year-olds don't need babysitters but we felt better knowing someone was there for her. And who was going to look after Jack and Charlie with Josie coughing up a lung?

It was that famous Comfort Soup that cured Josie in the end. My dad taught me how to make it when I was younger.

The flu really took it out of Josie though. Mum said she had to shake her awake when she fell asleep right in the soup.

She recovered, thank God but things were touch and go there for a while. Zelda was really worried we might lose her and even now that Josie is better, Zelda still goes in and checks on her while she's sleeping.

Little kids Jack and Charlie's age are supposed to have natural immunity from the flu but we kept a close eye on them for a couple of weeks anyway.

Once Josie was all better, we started letting her have her friends over again, like Claudia and Victoria. Josie's got a dartboard in her room and she likes to make Victoria jealous - no room for a dartboard in Victoria's room!

When Josie turned 12, Zelda and I thought it was prudent to institute a "no boys in the bedroom" rule. We compromised with Finn. Josie's argument was that Finn was her cousin. Our argument was that he definitely wasn't Victoria's cousin! So Finn is allowed in but the door has to stay open!

Random pic:
Finn just randomly waltzed into the Benton house to romantically hug Victoria. Cute but I still have no idea where he came from. I think he might be BFFs with Zelda (his aunt).

Oh, and lookie what I did!

Do you remember that trick people used to use to get custom pictures on the easel before EA gave us that option in one of the expansions? It works for the antique camera too and I'm so excited! This means when I have a community lot wedding, I can still have those lovely framed pictures of the actual event in my Sims' homes!

Notes:

• This is the fourth house the Bentons have moved to in 10 years. I had them in another house (the toddler pictures of Charlie and Jack in their profiles were taken in house #3, which is about the most you ever saw of that house), decided that it was very beautiful but I hated the layout, so I've moved them to this one. Fingers crossed that this one will be their house for good!
  
• I'm undecided on whether I'll let Tate and Zelda have another baby. If it was just one of them that had the want, I'd say no but they both have it and I am such a sucker for that! The house, by the way, is big enough for a fourth child, so at least that wouldn't be an issue.
• Both Finn and Victoria (and Claudia, obviously) are Josie's cousins but Finn is on Zelda's side and Victoria is on Tate's side, so they're not related to each other.