The Name of the Game is Change

A lot of changes happened recently.  Aging up, retiring, completing wishes... The Rackham family has been growing up!

Fiona finally aged up to Elder, and she makes a pretty cute one!  She mostly works in the garden, upgrades appliances around the house and focuses on little Jack.

Anne and Bonnie had their birthday!  They had a joint party, just a little one at home.  Anne had the strawberry cake and Bonnie got the chocolate.  You can see influence from both their parents in their faces... not necessarily in a good way!  Both girls had a good childhood so I could pick a trait, but staying true to the legacy, I let the randomizer choose them.  Bonnie got Over Emotional and Anne got Star Quality, which should work well with her goal of being rich and famous.

Bonnie:

Anne:

Jack and Jasmine both fulfilled their lifetime wish.  Jasmine made it to the top of the music career, spent one extra day saying goodbye to her coworkers, and then retired!  The family, even little Jack, gathered around to congratulate her.

Jack was out rescuing people from their burning houses when he finally hit a net worth of 100,000 simoleons.  Look at the rich firefighter heading home from a job well done. :D

Finally, little Jack had a birthday, too!  He'd learned all his kiddie skills and got to pick a new trait, but the randomizer picked Coward.  Nooo!  How could a dashing figure such as Captain Jack Rackham have a cowardly son?!  Oh, little Jack.  How will this affect you?

I thought the girls looked very masculine after aging up, so they both got a little makeover.  It's amazing what a new haircut, plucking your eyebrows, and some makeup can do!  They don't look quite so hideous anymore. :D

Before (scary):

After:

We Are Family

Wow, I don't know if I'm cut out for this legacy thing.  I just can't seem to get into game to play!  Oh well, I'm going to keep chugging away at it for now.  Maybe Generations will breathe some life into playing with a big family.

Now that life's settled down a little for the family and the kids are getting closer to being able to take care of themselves, everyone's been able to spend quality time together without feeling pressured and stressed.  The girls finally made the honor roll and dutifully do their homework as soon as they get home from school.

Jasmine spent some time fishing with her twin daughters.  They're getting to be pros and she'd never gained a lot (or any) skill in it, so they got to be the teachers and enjoyed showing their mom what they could do.

Big Jack and Little Jack have been having quality poo time.  Look at that intense face as he tries not to make a mess!

Fiona's already taught Jack how to walk, and he's tottering around exploring everything.  Nothing is safe!

Jack seems to be closer to Anne than to his other children.  He's always stopping to have conversations with her.  My theory is that her insanity makes her a much more interesting conversationalist.  Crazy = amusing.  However, that doesn't mean he neglects the others.  He and Bonnie spent some time playing tag.  He realized that he doesn't feel quite as young as he used to!

That hasn't kept him from responding to emergencies and keeping his alarm and firetruck in tip top shape.  This city hero is always ready to rescue someone.  It's possible that the family life and the city's admiration have curtailed his klepto ways.

Fiona finally decided that if she's going to be taking care of the garden all by herself, she might as well be getting paid for growing gorgeous plants.  She called city hall and made arrangements to fill out her Gardener paperwork.  Let's hope she remembered to change first.  :-o

Faux Hawks and Monkeys

Ugh, does your legacy ever start to feel like a chore?  I just can't take all of these sims, and I haven't even gotten the second generation grow up yet.  Well, I made a bit of progress in that area as little Jack aged up today!  He's absolutely adorable.  Apparently, he got the good genes, unlike his masculine-looking sisters.

So far, he has the traits Loves the Outdoors and Easily Impressed.  He likes classical music, french toast and the color spice brown.  With a virtuoso mother and growing up in a brown ship, it's not a big surprised.  He's an Aquarius, which is appropriate for a pirate's son.  Have some adorable pictures!

Jack started off toddler-hood as a skinhead.  He promptly tried to eat himself.  There was an emergency makeover hosted by myself and my hubby, and now Jack's beautiful hair is visible.

Tadaa!

Oh Jack. Will You Never Learn?

I need to keep the family smaller next time.  It seems to be taking forever for people to age up (particularly those damn kids!) when I keep slowing or pausing time to manage them all.  Anyway, Jack's gotten himself in a spot of trouble, although he redid his house in a manner fit for his legacy.

Using his money from rescuing fairies...

and selling the Tofunda SUV, Jack decided to redo his house to be more impressive and better laid out.

He kept his original dinghy, but wasn't certain what he'd use it for.  He found out... Oh believe me, he found out.  More on that later, though.

Jasmine finished her picture of Fiona.

The wife and the former-mistress seem to be getting along well and share the goal of eating dinner with the girls each night.  This is much easier now that they have a real dinner table.

After everyone had gone to bed, Jack saw this running by toward the ocean:

Now how could he resist such innocence?  How could this evil pirate resist the urge to corrupt it?  The "I'm a Firefighter" line came through again.

Jack discovered that his dinghy, formerly his home, was the perfect shag pad away from the family.  Hopefully this doesn't become a habit... more so than it already is.

Jack was a little tired after all that exertion, so he headed to bed, confident that she could find her own way home.  Immune to subtle suggestion, his recent conquest decided to Stride of Pride through his home.  At first I thought the creepiest thing was that she looked like a young version of his wife.

And then she picked up the baby while everyone was sleeping.  :-O  Ok, I think I've seen this in a scary movie before.  Thankfully, she just wanted to play with little Jack before heading home.

It wasn't until the next day, when rumors about cheating started flying, that Jack discovered his "innocent flower" was a paparazzi!  Karma, Jack.  Karma.

Little Jack... Fleet?

The girls are starting to take after their papa and dress like little pirates.  Anne has a best friend and Bonnie is starting to practice for those family portraits.

They get along well and, like twins often do, have started dressing alike.

 Meanwhile, Jack has gotten promoted to the top of his career.  He's honored at town hall and can't help but notice the cute mayor.

Jack tried to make Fiona as comfortable as possible during her pregnancy.

She's an active person, though, so she still took walks out on the beach even when about to pop!

Jack doesn't neglect the mother of his girls, though.  Jasmine plays the guitar while he shakes his booty for her.

Eventually the whole family joins in for an impromptu party in the living room, but Fiona goes into labor mid-dance!

Jack and Fiona rush off to the hospital in style.

While Jack loves his daughters, he's so pleased to see that blue blanket as Fiona walks out of the hospital.  And he's pleased to see that figure again, too!

Little Jack is meant to take after daddy, but he has the last name Fleet!  Jack has plans to remedy this at the town hall.

Jack makes sure Fiona feels loved and special after such a hard day.

Oo La La!

Well, it's been a bit longer than expected since I last posted, although ironically everything in this post was done in game the same day as my last post.  There have just been so many contests to keep up with!

Back to the story.  Jack has been a naughty naughty boy, all in the name of getting the most out of his genetic code.  Let's see what happened...

Little Anne and Bonnie finally aged up to toddlers.  Jack and Jasmine invited over a slew of friends who ate cake and danced on the top deck.  There was so much for Jack and Jasmine to do, running around after guests and two children, that Jack had a little accident.

However, the girls aged up fairly well and soon got onto skill building.  This was a whole family effort and was barely completed!  However, each girl learned all she could from each toy as well as learning each major skill, like walking and talking.

Around this time Jack suddenly felt better at fighting fires... he felt it down in his genes.  No, genes, not jeans!  Confident that he could now pass on the ability to fight fires to his children, he wanted a child that could carry this trait on to future generations.  So, Anne and Bonnie have been chucked out the door (not literally) as heirs, and Jack now wants to sire a new heir.  He tries with his beloved Jasmine...

but she turns into Grandma Rackham (sans grandchildren) before the pregnancy can take hold.  What's a pirate to do?

Well, this pirate decided that he'd just have to find an impressionable young woman who would fall for his "I'm a firefighter" line, move into the house and not try to usurp matriarchal authority from beloved Jasmine.  After all, Jack's a rogue, not a complete bastard.  (Yeah, like I'd put up with that irl!)  He spends time talking with several pretty young women, but he either finds out they're not a young as they first appear to be or that they're just not great people.  And then he meets Fiona Fleet and lo and behold, she also Loves the Outdoors!  He gets to know her and eventually invites her to move in as a nanny/maid.  However, it's obvious he has a little more than cleaning on his mind.  With his Master of Seduction reward, she doesn't stand a chance.

Fiona moves in and loves her new job.  She quits her day job and dedicates her time to taking care of the girls and keeping her new home presentable.  Under her direction, new rooms are added for herself and for the girls when they get older.  The bathroom is removed from the entry hall and two new large ones are created near the bedrooms.

Jasmine suspects what is happening, but she finds that she gets along with Fiona rather well.  If anything is going on between Fiona and Jack, Jasmine hasn't seen it in front of her.  She suspects that Jack may be after another child, but she knows she can't give it to him and feels helpless for another solution.  She decides that as long as Jack is in her bed every night and Fiona continues to be helpful around the house, she will take the situation at face value.  After all, she does need some help taking care of the twins now that both she and Jack are out of the house at their jobs during the day.  That doesn't keep her from trying to prove to Fiona that she's still the woman of the house.

Soon enough, it's time for the girls to age up.  They are skilled and happy with a new room waiting for them.  They don't have a big party like last time, because Jack still gets embarrassed when he thinks about it.  But, in between bouts of morning sickness, Fiona help them move into their new room and look forward to starting school.  (Just between you and me, I think they're fairly unattractive children, so I'm happy there's a chance at another -prettier- child.)

Scoring wise, I don't think anything needs to be changed.  Jasmine is currently working on a portrait of Fiona so that there will be a portrait of whichever woman is the mother of the eventual heir.  If it's Fiona, Jasmine's point just gets replaced by Fiona's.

Ah yes, after aging up, the girls have the following traits (new ones in bold):

Bonnie: Loves the Outdoors, Virtuoso, Vegetarian
Anne: Insane, Loves the Outdoors, Friendly

What's nice is that both girls obviously take after their dad.  Early in the morning, the day after aging up, they both head outside to fish in the ocean just seconds from their doorstep.

Scorecard

Point Total: 4