Round 7 Part 4: Whitfill Ranch (2053 - 2057)

Blake Whitfill is 46, Millie is 41, Landon and Ginny are 10.

"Charmed"

narrated by Millie

Sometimes I'm pretty well convinced I lead a charmed life. My husband's music career does take him away from home longer than some other jobs, but when he is home we're able to enjoy him for weeks at a time.

My extended family all live in the area, so my kids get to grow up with cousins and second cousins and first cousins once removed and all that. [Here they are with Andrew Riedmayer, who is technically Millie's first cousin.]

Blake's family is all in town too, and his brothers' kids are all right around our twins in age. [Pictured is Emerson Whitfill.]

Of course, life isn't absolutely perfect--for example, a few years back we had a break-in and the cop let the burglar escape! Fortunately no one was hurt and we could easily afford to replace the things that were stolen.

That was just a few months before the twins had their big milestone birthday--it was so hard for me to believe that my babies were 12 already!

I must admit, we kind of went overboard with their birthday gifts. We had been wanting to renovate the upstairs for a while anyway, so they both got to go all out decorating their rooms.

They were getting too old to be sharing the same room anyhow.

We also got two new puppies--a male named Cullen and a female named Swan. The kids picked their names out; I think they're supposed to be characters from a book or something.

Blake was not happy to get stuck taking the puppies outside in the middle of the night, but I have to get up before dawn to go to the lab and the kids have school, so he did it anyway.

A few months later, Blake was doing a tour in the Far East that coincided with the kids' summer vacation. So we decided to leave the puppies with our siblings (his brother is married to my sister) and go along with him. It was an awesome experience.

The guys both really enjoyed the food. Blake used to be a chef, and Landon has been talking lately about becoming a chef when he's older. I'm not sure if we should take him too seriously, though--I'm pretty sure all 12-year-old boys are obsessed with food!

The kids really enjoyed themselves in general. They'd been talking for years about getting to go on a tour with Daddy, and finally they were old enough to make that dream come true.

I was worried they'd be spoiled by all the leisure time, but once we got home in the fall they threw themselves into their schoolwork again.

Right now Blake's on another tour, so I make sure to sit down and have breakfast with the kids every day before I go to work. (They get themselves on the bus a couple hours later.) Sometimes I quiz them on their homework topics, but other times we just chat about video games or whatever else pops into our heads. I love it no matter what. I might be a little biased, but I'm pretty sure these two are the most awesome kids ever.

Week Six Part Four: Whitfill Ranch

Blake Whitfill: 39 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. (Formerly Romance.) LTW: Become Rock God. (Fulfilled: Become Celebrity Chef.) Astrological sign: Aries.
Mildred "Millie" (Landgraab) Whitfill: 34 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Become Hand of Poseidon. (Fulfilled: Become Education Minister.) Astrological sign: Gemini.
Landon Whitfill: 3 years old. Astrological sign: Libra.
Virginia "Ginny" Whitfill: 3 years old. Astrological sign: Aries.

The Whitfill Family. Blake is the eldest and thus the Generation 2 heir of the Whitfill family. He has two brothers who are happily married and two sisters who are happily single. This is the same picture used in Rishell and Veronica's update. They changed their shirts since then, but that wasn't worth making a new family tree thing. 

The Riedmayer-Landgraab Family. Through her mother, Millie is related to the Riedmayers of Riedmayer Cove (who featured in the last update), but I confined the tree to her more immediate family to make it more legible. Millie has five sisters and one brother; her older sisters have provided her with six nieces and eight nephews so far. She shares three of those nieces and one nephew with Blake, since her sister is married to his brother.

"Fatherhood"
Narrated by Blake Whitfill

Hey, Blake here. I guess I'm supposed to tell you about raising the twins? Okay.

To start off, let me just say there was a time in my life when I didn't want to do the whole marriage and family thing. I had a lovely mother once, but I never had a father, and I guess a part of me was terrified of messing it up with no examples to follow.

Let me tell you, though, the first time my son looked me in the eye and called me "Daddy", every doubt melted away and I knew I was always meant to do this.

Side note: When I opened this lot, both toddlers were in rock-bottom red aspiration. My best guess is that they had a "Relative breaks up" fear that was fulfilled when their aunt Edith broke off her engagement to Corbin Todd. Fortunately, neither of them had any toddler skills, so Blake did some marathon training sessions and got them in platinum pretty quickly.

At the time, I was working as a celebrity chef. It was good work; I was out of the house a few evenings a week but other than that I could be home with the kids. Meanwhile my wife, Millie, was working early days as an oceanographer--she'd leave long before it was light out and get home in the early afternoons, so we had some family time before I'd have to go off to the restaurant.

Next things we knew, it was time for the twins to go to school. It was so interesting to see them grow up and notice how they looked like their parents. Landon is my spitting image, except something about the shape of his eyes reminds me of his mother.

(In game, Landon seems to have the round Riedmayer eyes rather than his father's narrower eyes. In this picture he just looks like a mini-Blake, though.)

Ginny looks more like her mother at first glance, with her lighter complexion and blond hair (though she has my brown eyes, just like her brother), but she seems to have gotten all of her facial features from me. I'm a handsome fellow, if I do say so myself, so probably she'll end up a pretty woman. Oh, Millie is reading over my shoulder and says it doesn't matter if she's pretty as long as she turns out intelligent and good. Sure, sure. But I bet she's going to be pretty too.

(I worry about Ginny's looks myself, but I didn't figure Blake would share that worry. :))

Anyway, it was really important to Millie that the twins go to her alma mater, Bluewater Academy. It's this swanky private school, with uniforms and everything. I always just went to public school and I turned out okay, but what Millie wants, Millie gets. I just sign the checks.

Millie gave the headmaster a tour of our house--we had some landscaping done just for him--and I cooked my speciality, lobster thermidor. Naturally, the headmaster couldn't say no to our kids and they got admitted easily.

Of course, we made sure to sit the twins down every afternoon and go over their homework. No sense wasting that fancy private education by slacking off.

Sure enough, soon they were bringing home nothing but A+ report cards.












Shortly after the twins started school, I gave up my cooking show in favor of my other hobby, music. It was nice to be able to pursue my dream, but even nicer to come home.

(Recall that last round Blake maxed his enthusiasm in music and dance. By sheer coincidence, his second LTW was "Become Rock God.")

Millie was able to stay home with the kids while I was touring because she was the head of the National Oceanographers Association and hardly had to go into work. (Her coworkers jokingly called her The Hand of Poseidon. She's pretty brilliant at what she does.)

(TOC and LTW #2 for Millie. I think her new LTW is to become a City Planner.)

While I was away, Millie and the twins apparently spent their evenings sitting around studying quietly. I guess the twins got good looks from me and brains from their mom. 

They also worked on their extracurriculars--Landon was in the chess club (Imagine! My son in the chess club.) and Ginny played violin with the school orchestra.

Millie also taught the kids how to cook--now that's a manly occupation for my son! He'll be a celebrity chef someday, I bet, just like his dad!

In between school terms and my band's tours, we had relatives over all the time. We wanted to make sure the twins got to know their cousins and all that, plus Millie and I both like spending time with our siblings. We definitely had a full house, since I'm the oldest of five children and Millie is the middle of seven. (As much as I love my siblings and my kids, I'm kind of glad Millie and I stopped at just two. Five or seven or whatever would have been just a little crazy.)

Playing the bingo game: Marion Landgraab, Greg Pons, Beata Riedmayer-Landgraab, Malcolm Landgraab IV, Blake. At the mahjong table: Rishell Whitfill, Edward Pons, Theresa Dejackome, Landon. At the Don't Wake The Llama table: Fritz Riedmayer, Maggie Landgraab, Lauren Whitfill, Ginny.

Having hula lessons: Gabe Pons, Millie, Seth Pons, Charles Riedmayer, Edith Riedmayer, Joan Pons, Malcolm Landgraab V, Jeannie Pons.

These pics are actually from "Family Sunday." I got this idea from Jungfrun68 over at Mattsmyra. 

Oh, one more thing I almost forgot! Earlier this year, Millie got a perfect score on the SKILL test. She worked really hard on that and we're all super proud of her.

(Yay for Impossible Wants!)

I guess that's all for now, but the twins will be teenagers in just a couple of years and then there's sure to be something else to write about!

Here's the house at the end of the week. Blake and Millie have reclaimed the ground floor suite, but other than that not much has changed.

Incidentally, when I built this house I based it loosely off a Maxis house I had played once. I was puttering around in a different neighborhood and decided to check out that house just for fun and realized I had reproduced the first floor almost exactly. So, credits: Whitfill Ranch, copied from the Cape Cod Classic by Maxis. 

Here's the second floor. Landon and Ginny share a room for the time being, with screens around their beds for privacy. (Not that Sims care.) Maybe next time I visit them I will build a garage for the candy machine and treadmill and whatnot so that third bedroom will be usable instead of being a dumping ground for random stuff.

Here's the whole lot. Yes, I think a garage will fit in very nicely on the left side there. 

Week Five Part Four: Whitfill Ranch

Blake Whitfill, 32 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. (Changed in college from Romance.) LTW: Become Celebrity Chef. Astrological sign: Aries.

Mildred "Millie" Landgraab, 27 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Become Education Minister. Astrological sign: Gemini.

Blake is the oldest (adopted) son of founder Larita Whitfill. Millie is Blake's girlfriend, newly graduated from college, as you can tell from the coral pink cowboy-style shirt paired with the bubblegum pink cargo pants. Even I'm not that fashion impaired.

Blake has a fairly modestly sized family tree. He's on the far left there.

Millie, on the other hand, is part of the Riedmayer clan, the largest in Prosperity Plains. I've put a red box around her in the tree there so she's easier to find. 

You might also notice that Blake and Millie share a niece; his brother Jihoon is married to her half-sister Francine.

After college, Millie Landgraab decided to accept her boyfriend Blake's invitation to spend some time at Whitfill Ranch. There would be plenty of time to go home to her folks' place later.

She had only just stepped out of the taxi when Blake got down on one knee and presented her with a diamond solitaire, asking her to do him the honor of becoming his wife. Millie accepted, of course.

They didn't see any reason to wait and were married just a few months later, in September, with their families and close friends in attendance. 

An airport had just been built not far from Prosperity Plains, so the new Mr. and Mrs. Whitfill decided to honeymoon on Twiiki Island--the warm weather was a pleasant change from the unseasonably cold autumn they were experiencing back home.

 

 Life soon settled into a busy routine. Blake was working hard at his restaurant, and Millie had gotten a job as Dean of Students at their alma mater. A little less than three years after their marriage, Millie found out that she was pregnant.

For their third anniversary, Millie had contractors build a state-of-the-art kitchen as a surprise for Blake, since they could finally afford to upgrade the appliances that had been installed when he was a teenager.

Of course, Blake was not the only one who enjoyed the new kitchen. Partly inspired by her husband, Millie was developing quite a bit of enthusiasm for cuisine.

(She did not actually max out cuisine enthusiasm. However, she did, according to my notes, max out her Logic and Cleaning skills.)

Meanwhile, Blake used his new hobby of dancing to unwind after work.

Blake's hard work paid off; at the beginning of 2043 he learned that he had gotten chosen to host a cooking show with the largest TV network in Simlandia. (TOC and LTW #1 for Blake! New LTW: Become Rock God.)

His success came just in time, since the Whitfill family expenses went up quite a bit with the unexpected arrival of TWINS! The babies, a boy and a girl, were born on February 4. Landon was the elder and greatly resembled his father; Virginia (called Ginny) was the younger and took more after her mother.

(The twins were actually not unexpected; if you look closely at the honeymoon pics you'll notice I was feeding Millie cheesecake. I wanted to see if it'd actually work.)

Millie soon found success in her own career, being appointed Education Minister just a year after the twins were born. (TOC and LTW #1 for Millie as well. New LTW: Become Hand of Poseidon.) She soon found the demands of bureaucracy too taxing and took a position as a marine biologist at a small research lab nearby.

The twins were soon toddlers and kept their parents hopping.

However, Blake and Millie still found time to just be a couple, even if their dates had to be stay-at-home dates after the twins were in bed.

The house at the end of the week. It's not much different except that the downstairs bedroom is a nursery. (In the past I've found it more convenient to have the nursery on the same level as the main living area in two-story houses.)

The upper level isn't much different either. The bedroom on the left is currently the master bedroom; the bedroom on the right is the Place to Store Random Junk. (Don't we all have one of those?)

And the outside. The plants in the greenhouse got sadly neglected; I forgot how much work toddler twins are. (They still own the green car, by the way. Millie had taken it to work that day.)

It was a fun week overall for me at Whitfill Ranch. The Whitfill family got a male heir right off, so no worries there. Blake and Millie both fulfilled a lifetime want. And I just find this family fun in general for some reason, maybe because I've been playing Blake since he was a child and Millie since she was a baby, so I'm attached to both of them.