Dry the rain

Round 28: Spring 2027

last update/next update

Max Nihill is 40, Zaria Royce-Nihill is 39, Josh is 13 and Jessica is 7.

Narrated by Max Nihill

After Mum got married and moved out, I thought Zaria and I might finally be able to really enjoy our days off while the kids were at school. I think that lasted around three weeks.

Mum moving out left us with a spare bedroom. It didn't even occur to me to try to fill it but Zaria had other ideas. I almost thought she wanted another baby but we're both on the same page there. Instead, she wanted Kit to move in with us.

Zaria's been worried about her mother living "all on her own" in Exeter. Asha's right across the road so I can't say I understood why Zaria was so concerned about her.

Honestly, I just wasn't keen on living with my mother-in-law but after Zaria pointed out that she'd lived with her mother-in-law for 20 years, I didn't really have a good reason to say no.

And so Kit moved in with us. She accepted the invitation pretty readily, which makes me think she was probably a little more lonely than she let on, living on her own.

It actually hasn't been so bad. As far as mothers-in-law go, Kit is a good one. I knew that already but I was still dreading the idea of living together. So far, so good.

Kit brought her little dog, Zack, with her. I think Jessica might have been more excited about having another dog living with us than she was about her grandma. Jessica loves animals. She's been begging us for another dog or a cat for a long time now.

Jessica loves having Kit with us as well though. She's been missing Mum quite a bit.

We still see Mum a lot, though it's obviously not the same as living in the same house. We have get-togethers most weekends.

It's definitely Jessica's favourite time of the week.

The more people she has to show off to, the happier she is. We've all seen her handstands dozens of times but we still have to watch every time.

Since Asha and Olivia both had babies a few months ago, the weekends are usually fairly baby-centric.

Asha and Olivia are close friends, so they're already trying to make Ruby and Ramona best buddies as well. They're probably a little young to care right now.

Josh isn't too interested in Ruby or Ramona, despite the fact that they're his first cousins ever. I probably wouldn't have cared at his age either. Jessica's enthusiasm more than makes up for Josh though!

To get two baby cousins at the same time, and two baby girls at that, has just been the biggest thrill for Jessica.

We're usually just thankful if Josh even chooses to come downstairs when we have family over.

Josh is a little bit moody lately. He's usually a pretty talkative kid but he has to be prompted to talk lately.

He spends most of his time in his bedroom. He comes downstairs to eat and go to school.

After talking to Josh, I'm not too worried. He's got a girl problem.

He really likes his friend Elspeth but she's decided she likes another boy instead.

Josh just assumed that seeing they were already such good friends, Elspeth would naturally want to date him.

It hasn't worked out that way for him though. They're still hanging out but only as friends.

Josh says she seems completely oblivious to the fact that he still likes her. He's pretty down about the whole thing.

I took Josh into the Front Page one afternoon, to take his mind off Elspeth.

Well, secretly, I was also hoping he'd take an interest in the cafe. I'd love to pass it down to him some day. I don't think Josh is going to be a chef any time soon. He did what I asked him to but there's just no love for it there.

He was much more interested in checking out the female patrons than anything to do with food.

Jessica though...well, maybe she'll be interested some day!

She seems to show more interest in cuisine than the average little girl does. Her friends Lauren and Emma came over for a sleepover and Jessica wanted me to make them all filet mignon for dinner!

I'm not going to push her into anything. Jessica's still little and is having so much fun in the slumber party stage. But it'd be nice to keep the cafe in the family.


Outtakes:RIP Pachyderm! I thought I'd commemorate this, because my Sims so rarely seem to care when their pets die, if they're asleep at the time. But Zaria jumped out of bed to go and mourn him, at 3am. :( They still have Zack but he's an elder now too.

I just love Jessica! I'm always a bit sad when my Sims earn enough body points so they don't do dive bombs any more, even though the graceful diving is also very cool.

Just a few extra pics of the family get together. I love Caterina telling absolutely everyone about her damn holiday. I believe the last time she went away, Max was a toddler. But hey, Luc's never been on holiday, so he'll listen anyway.

Notes:

• Title is from Dry the Rain by The Beta Band.
• I miss Kit and she's retired now, so I decided to move her into Caterina's old bedroom. I'm getting better with the whole empty nester thing but I don't know that I'm ready to play a single elder. Snooze! Anyway, Kit rolls up wants for her grandkids all the time, so it'll be nice for her to be with them more often. When I first moved her in, she wanted to play with and cuddle Ruby...and they hadn't even met yet! I'm such a sucker for that kind of thing.
• Poor Josh. I loaded up the lot and he had the want to go steady with Elspeth. It rolled away but he wasn't rolling up many other attainable wants, so his aspiration is really low. Well...it's in the low green, which is pretty low for my Sims!
• I somehow forgot Jessica's hobby was Cuisine. I like to keep the businesses in the family where I can, so this should work out well.