Thursday 16 January 2014

Another sweet summer

Round 35: January 2041 (Summer)

Kit Royce is 81, Max Nihill is 54 and Zaria Royce-Nihill is 53.
(Josh and Elspeth are 27 and Jessica is 21)



Narrated by Max Nihill


As soon as I told Jessica that we’d be going away for a short vacation, her eyes lit up. At first, I thought she was thinking about throwing a wild party at our house while we were gone but I should have known better. 


Wild parties have never been Jessica’s thing. No, Jessica wanted to see over Front Page while I was away.

It was only going to be a couple of days, Jessie doesn’t have classes again until March and she was dying for the opportunity. 

I was dubious but she’s going to own Front Page one day. She might as well learn a little bit about running the place firsthand. 

Jessica was thrilled and I started to wonder if she’d let me have my restaurant back once I returned!

We decided to have Jessica stay here at home, so there’d be someone around for our new puppy, Freddie, at least some of the time as well. 

I’m pretty taken with the little guy, I have to say. 

Even so, I was happy to leave Freddie behind for a few days and visit Cape Elizabeth once again. 

I’ve been nagging Zaria about taking a holiday for the past couple of years and she promised after the election, we’d go. We’re only just getting around to it now. 

I really needed the break and I know Zaria did too.

We took Kit along with us. 

Zaria and Asha are both very protective of their mother and they wouldn’t dream of leaving her on her own.

Kit gets tired a little easier these days though, so Zaria and I had the evenings to ourselves.

At night, it was almost like a second honeymoon for us. 

Even during the day, Kit often preferred going off and doing her own thing. 

We got caught in a tropical rainstorm a couple of times but we didn’t mind too much. 

Cape Elizabeth is beautiful but that kind of weather is to be expected in the tropics. Most of the time, the rain stayed away and we could enjoy the great outdoors.

I have to admit though, I missed staying at our holiday house. We sold it a few years back, which I am now really regretting.

I like having a home away from home, rather than living out of a hotel room. 

I’m trying to talk Zaria into buying another place but she’s not having it so far. 

Zaria kind of likes hotels. She and Kit get a kick out ordering room service and having everything taken care of for them. I tend to be quite critical of other chefs’ cooking sometimes and would rather do it myself. 

I’ll have to work on Zaria a bit more if I want to make it happen.

Almost as soon as we got back, I had to go check on Jessica at Front Page. 

I tried to be subtle but Jessica saw right through it. In short, everything was fine.

The restaurant is still standing, our customers all left as happy as they usually do and there were no dramas to report. Phew.

Jessica told me she did an awesome job, which I have to admit, she did.

She shouldn’t get too comfortable; I’m not anywhere near wanting to hand it over just yet!

Not long after we came back, we had Josh and Elspeth over to see us. 

They’re living together now, or living together lite, as they put it. They’re rooming with Elspeth’s friend Sophie, so they don’t have the privacy they would if they were truly on their own. 

They both seem fairly content with the arrangement though. I don’t think either of them are quite ready to set up house together just yet.

Zaria is still not overly fond of Elspeth but their relationship is improving, finally.

It was easy enough to just barely tolerate Elspeth when she and Josh were just friends but now that she might be a more permanent and constant fixture in his life, it’s going to be more pleasant for everyone if they’re friendly.

They’re getting there. Elspeth has always been a bit much for Zaria to take but she’s doing her best. 

It’s nice to share a meal with a minimum of awkward moments.

Kit really likes Elspeth. I’ve never really known her to dislike anyone (except Luc, when he first starting dating Asha) but she talks Elspeth’s ears off when she’s over.

Elspeth will tell Kit about the latest game she’s designing and Kit will listen attentively, like she actually plays video games.

Zaria and I, as well as Asha and Luc, are completely done with children, so she’s waiting on Josh getting married now. 

Josh gets very uncomfortable when Kit brings up the topic in front of Elspeth! He thinks they should be together a little bit longer before they think about marriage.

They’ve been friends since primary school though, so as far as Kit is concerned, they already know everything they’re ever going to know about each other!

Kit probably has a point but I doubt Josh will be convinced by his grandma.

I’m quite happy for them to wait a while, personally. I feel old enough these days but once my kids start getting married and having babies, I think I’ll feel well and truly over the hill.

Notes:
  • Title is from Another Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill by Jens Lekman.
  • Max had the want for a puppy and when I had Veronica and Nick's dogs breed so Caleb could get his puppy, I got two puppies. So Freddie is Jessie's brother. I noticed their fur is slightly different, so I think Freddie's going to be a shaggier dog like Clancy, while Jessie will have a smoother coat like Christy. I never noticed puppies' fur textures were different sometimes. 
  • Zaria rolled a baby want this round. Yeah, that's not happening, lol! Kit also has the simultaneous wants for a grandchild, a relative to get engaged and a relative to get married. She's definitely not getting any more grandkids but she definitely thinks Josh is old enough to get going on the engagement thing!
  • Zaria also rolled the want to buy a vacation home once they got back to Sullivan, which made me smile. She and Max are obviously on the same page (Max has had the want since I placed him in the hood!)
  • You guys, Jessica is starting her senior year soon! That's so crazy to me! I'm going to have four graduates next January birthdays!


14 comments:

  1. Nice to see how in the end your Sims' wants tie in together :-)
    I think I want to send Sims on vacation again soon, it is too rarely that I play in any of the vacation 'hoods.

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    1. I like it when things fall into place for my sims like that. It's like they're giving me the go ahead to do whatever it is I was wondering about, like buying the vacation home in this case.

      I find vacations fun if I haven't done them for a while. I really want to make over all these lots though, as if I don't, I'm going to start to find them a bit samey again.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. Looks like Max better watch Jessica, she might sweep his business from under his feet, lol. At least he knows it's in good hands. Maybe they should start a franchise since he still loves working there and she's eager to run the place. I bet she could manage two places when she's older.

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    1. Ha, Jessica is definitely very keen to take over! They would probably enjoy a franchise but I don't think I would enjoy it quite as much. ;) Running two versions of the same lot doesn't really appeal to me. So Jessica will just have to sit tight. As much as he loves the restaurant, I don't see Max working past the age of 70 or so, so by her mid-30s, the place should be Jessica's. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  3. Jessica seems more than capable of running the restaurant. I wonder what she'll be doing when she graduates, will she try to do something of her own, seeing her dad isn't planning on retiring soon, or is she going to work with her dad waiting to take over one day?

    The holiday seemed really nice, it can be really relaxing getting away from it all for a while, epsecially for Zaria with everything she does for her job and the hood!

    I'm really glad this rebuild is turning out so great for you, with wants turning up for sims who wouldn't roll this kind of wants in Sullivan 1.0, like Zaria's baby-want.

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    1. Jessica will do a good job with Front Page, when the time comes. I'm not positive of what Jessica will do when she graduates but I'm thinking of putting her in the custom Catering career, which I haven't tried. Seeing her LTW is not to become a Celebrity Chef, I want to try something different with her.

      Heh, Zaria deserved a break! She has a lot of work ahead of her with this rebuild. ;) I'm not really writing the rebuild in but I am a bit disappointed about the projects she had in progress that will now have to be started from scratch again.

      Yeah, I'm enjoying Sullivan 2.0 too, for the most part. One disadvantage is that my vacation hoods are EMPTY! There was one other guy wandering around and he was the only person I saw. I used to get locals, tourists and even my playables showing up. So that's a bit disappointing. I might add some locals and tourists myself, just to liven it up a bit.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  4. You make vacation in the game seem fun (when in reality I find it pretty boring to play through, LOL) and this was a good one.

    Jessica seems really capable and it will be fun to see her take over in the future.

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    1. It definitely can be boring in game but I have the option of not writing about/taking pictures of the boring parts! This particular vacation though, I did mostly enjoy. :)

      I'm pretty excited for Jessica to take over! Max will probably miss the place but he'll at least know it's in good hands.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. Aww! I'm glad Jessica got to prove herself. No wild parties for her, only giant leaps in responsibility, lol.

    Can I just say, right now, how much I MISS doing vacations without the consistent and paralyzing fear that it will permanently ruin the game? Augh. I've had to bypass certain things simply because I can't make sims travel without risking my entire world! Same goes for Uni. Saving constantly is the only answer and even then, it's dodgy at best! So, I love seeing vacations. I'm glad they had a nice time and hopefully they'll find a nice home to buy there again.

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    1. Nah, Jessica's no party animal. They might have had to worry a bit more about Josh, though probably not at his current age!

      The saves corrupting so easily in TS3 is ridiculous. Have you considered doing what Sandy does with her sims when she wants to take them on vacation? She does it in a different save and then goes back to her regular, non-bloated-with-vacation-worlds save when she wants to return home. It wouldn't really work for uni, unfortunately, but for vacations, it might, as long as you weren't trying to do the adventures or anything.

      I'll have to put a nice house in for Max and Zaria. The EA options are, unsurprisingly, pretty dire!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  6. I remember when Jessica ate bubbles at a wedding, can't believe she's going to be a senior! She's adorable, and I loved that she took over the restaurant while they were on vacation. I really liked Zaria in the maxi dress for the vacation, I don't tend to use the maxi dresses but I always want to. How funny that she rolled a baby want, you didn't get many before, and now you are getting swamped with them. I can't imagine her actually having a baby this late in life.

    Looks like the nice vacation and Max's persistence has paid off, a vacation home really suits this family. Maybe Josh and Elspeth will get married there. I love destination weddings. I totally love that Kit is urging them to get a move on! It's so true too about them knowing each other pretty much their entire lives, not much left to mystery here! Plus we've all been rooting for this,so Josh needs to just get on board!

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    1. Oh, I forgot about that! Yeah, that was Olivia's wedding, when Jessica drank the bubble solution. She's a big girl now. ;)

      I like the maxi dresses a lot for vacation, especially for older women like Zaria or just ones who wouldn't want to wear the short shorts my younger sims often wear! They have a preg morph too - Patience is wearing one in the most recent birthdays. Zaria will not be in birthdays any time soon - I don't think she could really picture herself having a baby now either! It would be a record for Sullivan, that's for sure.

      I've never done a destination wedding, except my two couples who eloped (Hope and Malcolm and Mina and Pascal, way back when). I've never tried to do anything with inviting guests. I'll have to research that - not necessarily for Josh and Elspeth but I'd like to know how it all works on vacation.

      I haven't played Elspeth yet in the new hood, so we'll have to see how they both feel about the marriage thing when I get around to them. Josh would make you and his grandma very happy, I know!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  7. I'm glad Jessica could get a chance to run the restaurant and that she did just fine. She's got a good head on her shoulders; she'll be mroe than ready when it comes time to hand over the reins. Though I wonder when he'll be ready to hand it over; you've got a few sims in their sixites and seventies still running their restaurants with no signs of slowing down!

    I can't wait for Josh and Elspeth to settle down together. I've been waiting almost as long as he has, LOL

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    1. I usually figure sims with the drive to open their own businesses would want to make the most of it! Especially seeing my business owning sims often don't open them until they're a little older. So Jessica will have some time to kill before she gets her mitts on Front Page but she'll get to do a bit of her own thing in that time, which will be good for her too.

      Ha! Josh and Elspeth are half-settled down already, so maybe you won't be waiting much longer. We'll see how they're both feeling when I play them this round.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete