Week Five Part Six: Bridgeview

 

Greg Pons, 47 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. LTW: Become General. Astrological sign: Aries.

Joan Pons, 47 years old. Aspiration: Family. LTW: Marry Off 6 Children. Astrological sign: Leo.

Sarah Pons, 10 years old. Astrological sign: Aries.

Joseph Pons, 7 years old. Astrological sign: Aries.

Seth Pons, 3 years old. Astrological sign: Gemini.

Gabriel Pons, baby.

This tree should look familiar; you've seen a similar tree in the last two updates. Joan is a member of the mighty Riedmayer clan and thus has many, many relatives; Greg is an ex-townie and therefore has no relatives at all save his wife and children. 

Incidentally, I think it's kind of cool that I started out with 4 families. It feels kind of elemental or something.

Life in the Pons household was a constant bustle of activity. In addition to the two busy parents and four active kids who lived there full-time, Joan's various relatives seemed to be over almost every day--the older ones helped with childcare; the younger ones just provided friendship to the kids.

(From top left: Step-grandpa Malcolm holds Gabe; Joe chats with Cousin Todd;  Aunt Edith holds Gabe while Step-grandpa Malcolm looks on; Joe chats with Aunt Maggie; Sarah chats with Aunt Marion; Gabe gets attention from Grandma Beata.)

Meanwhile, birthdays happened constantly. In just one year, Sarah turned 12 and thus moved from primary school to upper school, Seth turned 5 and thus started primary school, and Gabe turned 2 and thus started potty-training and other such important things. (And Joseph turned 9, which was important but not quite the same sort of milestone.) 

Sarah Pons, daughter of Joan (Riedmayer) Pons and Greg Pons. S4 skin, black hair, gray eyes. Aspiration: Fortune. Lifetime want: Become The Law. 

 

In that same eventful year, Joan and Greg celebrated their 15th anniversary. Inspired by Millie and Blake's stories of their Twiiki Island honeymoon, they decided to book a weeklong stay at the Potterhouse Bungalows themselves. Joan was reluctant to leave her children (she'd never left any of them for more than a day, and Gabe was still so small!) but she ended up enjoying herself immensely relaxing, seeing the sights, and reconnecting with Greg as a couple instead of just as co-parents. She did head straight for Gabe's crib and wake him up for a snuggle the second she got home, however.

Shortly after they returned home, Greg and Joan decided that it was high time to try to get the older children into private school. A man named Vince came over to evaluate them and ended up accepting Sarah into the upper school and Joseph and Seth into the primary school.

I had a whole series of pictures of this meal; flipping through them is amusing because Todd and Gabe suddenly appear in the background and play peek-a-boo at one point.

Before they left for their first day, Joan took a picture of all three kids in their new uniforms.

(Joseph is on the left, Seth is on the right. I think.)

As time passed, Joan noticed that her three boys were quickly becoming best friends, but that Sarah was often off by herself. Part of that could be that Sarah was a teenager with teenage concerns like scholarships and an after-school job, but Joan started to wonder if maybe she felt left out in the house full of boys.

(From left: Seth, Gabe, Joe.)

Joan had rather hoped to have a fifth child at some point, but at 50 years old her chances of another pregnancy were pretty slim. Besides, that child would be at least 14 years younger than Sarah. So she discussed matters with Greg and after much deliberation signed on as foster-to-adopt parents with Sim City Social Services. Jeannie was placed with them almost immediately. She was 5 years old at the time, 9 1/2 years younger than Sarah. (And just six months older than Gabriel.)

Despite the age gap, Jeannie and Sarah soon became fast friends and happily shared a room. 

In the process of adopting Jeannie, Joan and Greg met a little boy named Edward. He looked like Sarah and was exactly a week younger than Gabriel, which tugged at Joan's maternal heartstrings. He was available for adoption and they had room; Gabriel was by himself in the bedroom that had been the nursery for so many years. So it was that Edward arrived at the Pons household some months after Jeannie did.

Edward fit right in and Gabe was delighted to have a "twin."

Of course, not everything was gender-segregated in the Pons household. Jeannie loved playing blocks with her new brothers.

Meanwhile, Edward seemed to be musically inclined like his new sister Sarah.

During this time period, Greg began to feel that his life in the music-making world was taking too much of a toll on him. He wanted to be home for his family more, with two new children and the older kids rapidly becoming teenagers. He managed to enlist in the military, which had been his dream for many years. Joan supported him even though it meant a drastic reduction in the family's income; her work as an artist was lucrative enough that they could weather a few lean years even with six children to support, and she had recently sold a successful novel, a sequel to the one she'd published her senior year of college.

(TOC #1 for Greg, and now he can finally work on his lifetime want.)

Joan and Greg were especially concerned about Joseph. Around the time he entered upper school he started talking about how he wanted to have tons of women hanging on his arm all the time when he was older. His parents hoped that it was a phase he would outgrow. Joan in particular wanted to see all of her children happily settled with families of their own someday.

Joseph Pons, son of Joan (Riedmayer) Pons and Greg Pons. S3 skin, black hair, light blue eyes. Aspiration: Romance. Lifetime want: Have 20 Simultaneous Lovers.

With a face like that and only 1 nice point, that'd never fly in the real world. Meanwhile, I'm tired of Romance, so he'll probably see the light in college and reform. 

 

The inside of the house was not much different at the end of the week. The nursery is now Gabe and Edward's room, and there's some new furniture in the common area, including a Rock Hammer. That's about it.

The only difference on the outside is the obstacle course.

Technically, Joan was young enough that she could have had a couple more children, but the way I calculate her age, she was 50, so I decided to have them adopt instead. Besides, adopting is cool.

(Two of my real-life siblings were adopted.)

Week Five Part Five: Riedmayer-Landgraab Estate

Beata Riedmayer-Landgraab, 62 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. Lifetime Want: Become General. Astrological sign: Scorpio.

Malcolm Landgraab IV, 59 years old. Aspiration: Fortune. Lifetime Want: Own 5 Top-Level Businesses. (Formerly Become Criminal Mastermind.) Astrological sign: Gemini

Malcolm Landgraab V: 24 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. Lifetime Want: Become Media Magnate. Astrological sign: Gemini.

Marion Landgraab: 18 years old. Aspiration: Pleasure. Lifetime Want: Have 50 1st Dates. Astrological sign: Gemini.

Margaret "Maggie" Landgraab: 12 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. Lifetime Want: Have 20 Simultaneous Best Friends. Astrological sign: Gemini.

Here is Beata's family tree. You saw a nearly identical tree in my last post, which featured Malcolm and Beata's oldest daughter, Millie. 

Malcolm IV has some ancestors, but I don't care about them. If you own OFB, you can go look up his family tree yourself.

Mal finally left for college when he was 24. Marion was chafing to go herself, but her parents told her that she might as well stay home and earn some more scholarships. Besides, it would be weird to go to college with her brother who was 6 years older than she was.

Meanwhile, Malcolm decided to work on rebuilding his family's business empire now that he was semi-retired and had a little more money. He started by having a grand reopening of Club Dante. Marion spent most of her after-school hours over there, greeting patrons and serving drinks at the bar. (If anyone asked, she said she was 21.) She always worked hard, figuring that she might as well get as many skills as possible before she struck out on her own.

 Meanwhile Maggie, who was too young to run the club by herself, took over Mal's old job as editor of the school newspaper for Bluewater Preparatory Upper School. Sometimes Marion would come home from the bar at 2 or 3 in the morning and find Maggie still at the computer they had in their room, typing away.

Random pic: Brittanie Kules and three of her lovers in the same room. I heard the "caught cheating" sound and stopped Malcolm just in time to keep him from slapping Brittanie. Meanwhile the other two guys fought each other constantly for the rest of the week and made it hard to get stars.

(Reminder: Malcolm dated Brittanie way back in Week One, before he married Beata. They've barely spoken in the intervening 30 years or so, but apparently he still had fond memories of their time together.)

When Maggie was 16 Malcolm decided that she was old enough to try her hand at running the club. The security cameras indicated that she spent most of the time dancing with Alexis Kules. Malcolm wondered why Brittanie let her 12-year-old daughter hang out at a club all day. Maybe Brittanie wanted Alexis to grow up to be a floozy too. 

Later, one of the customers set the kitchen on fire. Fortunately, Maggie managed to call the fire department before anything too terrible happened. After that, Malcolm had an alarm installed.

Of course, Malcolm didn't leave all the work to his daughters. In fact, he did most of the real dirty work himself.

Marion started think that maybe Maggie wasn't as obnoxious as she'd thought. She had been really responsible getting that fire put out; Marion wouldn't have thought she had enough brains in her head for that. The two sisters started to bond despite their age difference. One of their favorite things to do was play musical instruments together out on the porch.

At one point, Marion even snuck Maggie into the My Muse Music and Dance Studio.

Meanwhile, Beata finally accomplished her dream of becoming a general.

(TOC and LTW #1 for Beata! Since she's too old for another TOC, she'll get to spend her golden years using up accumulated maternity leave. New LTW: 5 Top Level Businesses. I guess she and Malcolm have all the same desires after being married so long.)

Around the same time, Club Dante reached the highest rank a business could achieve. Malcolm decided to purchase another business, the 1-2-3+ Gym. That gym quickly became Beata's pet project; she was over there constantly chatting with customers, giving them fitness tips, etc. She was good at it, too; the business rose to the top level with astounding speed.

After that Macolm decided to start a home business while he saved up for more ambitious ventures. The home business was nothing fancy, just some poker tables on the back patio, but people seemed to enjoy it.

Meanwhile, Malcolm had the chance to cultivate some hobbies. He brought Francine's old easel down to his bedroom and started painting from time to time.

He also took up pottery. Soon, it seemed like he could work on arts and crafts forever without getting tired.

(1 Hobby Plaque for me!)

Of course, he also made sure to make time for Beata. It'd be a shame to let the spark go out of their marriage just as they were achieving all their dreams.

(I actually took that picture because I couldn't imagine going to bed with someone wearing THAT suit.)

Not much has changed in the house.

Even Mal's room is exactly as he left it, since there are no younger children to displace him. (Recall that he took over that bedroom after Edith and Joan left.)

 The biggest difference is those poker tables.

Overall it was a very good week. Getting the venue businesses up was surprisingly easy, though retail outlets eluded me. (You'll notice that Electronics Supercenter, the other business pre-owned by Malcolm Landgraab IV, was prominently missing from this update.) Both Malcolm and Beata have filled their Lifetime Aspiration Meters, so they are very low maintenance.

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.