Ch. 6: Woohoo, A Vacation!

I really like the astronaut uniform, although I only got to see it for one day this time. Ackerley got promoted to General on his second day in the military. To celebrate, I've decided to have the family go on a vacation.

Ahh, who am I kidding? I want to let Meadow and Russ have a little more time together before they die.



The twins finished their homework right after school so they wouldn't have to worry about it when they got home from vacation. Now they're making up for their loss of fun. Wow, look at those faces! I am loving these two. I have a feeling it will be very hard to choose an heir this generation.





Meadow is packed and ready to go to Three Lakes. She's been waiting her whole life for this kind of experience. She and Russ were dirt poor when they got married, and they have been busy working and raising children and granchildren ever since.



Rose got home just as the rest of the family were leaving. I was concerned the she would be left behind and miss out on the vacation.



On a positive note, Rose is now an Ecological Guru which also fulfilled her Lifetime Want of Earning $100,000.



Rose did get left behind on the home lot, as she had no option of getting into the shuttle. Fortunately, she somehow caught up with them at Three Lakes where the family owns this cabin called Villa di Simoleon. It was a nice cabin, but it did need some work when they first arrived. It was smaller than they thought it would be, but the twins were perfectly fine sleeping in beds the living room.



The first thing Meadow did was head straight for the hammock and stayed there.

Seeing Meadow with one eye shut reminded me of a little rhyme I learned as a kid:

"Birdie, birdie in the sky
Why'd you do that in my eye?
I'm a big girl I don't cry.
Aren't you glad that cows don't fly?"

Although I doubt Meadow got hit in the eye by anything like that or I don't think she'd be smiling right now.



She wouldn't get out of the hammock until I made her. I wondered why everyone else was just lined up waiting to walk to Lumber Mill Range. They were all waiting for her to get out of the hammock. I guess they didn't want her to get lost.



Of course it had to rain a lot at Three Lakes. What's a vacation without a lot of rain?

The Thayers had a positive attitude despite the rain, although I have no idea what Garridan is unwinding from.



Log-rolling and slap dancing at any time are not what I would consider fun, but it's also raining. Even though it's crazy, sims just can't get enough of these activities at Three Lakes.



Home cooking at the cabin is cheaper and definitely more satisfying. Thank goodness they invested in their own vacation home instead of staying in a hotel or camping.



Rose shares her "fragrance" with Fulton by cutting the cheese across the table while he's eating. Classy.



Lightning started this fire, but according to firefighter Mitch Lawson, they should be more careful next time. I can't think of how they could be more careful unless they chopped down all the trees.



The adults hired a Nanny to watch the twins while they went to Smooth Rock Spa, since there really wouldn't have been anything interesting for the kids to do there. They all learned Deep Tissue Massage and got in the hot springs.

Taylor looks grateful that the client is face down for the massage.



Ackereley never tires of admiring himself, even on vacation. I have no idea why he wore his General uniform on vacation. Maybe he was hoping to impress the locals. You, know I'll bet that's why he wanted to go into the military in the first place. After all, he is a Knowledge sim, so it really didn't make much sense at the time he rolled up the want. It's that he's a vain sim, and he thinks the uniform makes him look especially good. An inordinate amount of his free time is spent gazing into his hand-held mirror. He carries it with him everywhere he goes.



Meadow and Russ decided to try out the sauna's romantic possibilities. I'm somewhat confused at how they managed public woohoo in there without apparently moving. I would think that when the fog cleared, they would at least be sitting next to each other. So much for cuddling.



Sadly, I overestimated Meadow's bladder capacity on one of their family outings. Hey, she should know to go before leaving the house. But I am sorry I didn't get her home faster. I don't think anyone else saw her, so her secret is safe with me... and the whole internet.



Oh yeah, I nearly forgot to mention the tour they took that ended in a swarm of angry bees chasing them. Apparently, I'm not very good at these vacation chance cards.



Ackerley found a map to a hidden burrow and went in search of Bigfoot. As a knowledge sim, he had a strong desire to see if the legends were true. As you can see, he found him and danced with him to make friends with him. Everyone else in the family was afraid they might meet Bigfoot, so they didn't volunteer to come along on his quest. Knowledge sims never fear the unknown, but embrace it no matter how smelly and hairy it may be.



Too bad we can't breed Bigfoot into the UGG Legacy, but I suppose that would would make it even more disturbing.



Staying at Three Lakes was the closest thing to a honeymoon that Ackerley and Rose had experienced.



The family bought a few tents just for the experience of tent-camping, and for other recreational activities. I had no idea how little privacy they would have at their own vacation home. The Bobble-Head Girl girl came running up to the tent when Ackerley and Rose were in there "wrestling" and was very offended about the tent activities. I guess she must have been walking by, because I had never seen her before.

Garridan told the girl not to worry because his parents were just wrestling and that he didn't think they were hurting each other. She just walked away in disgust after that. Garridan was curious, wondering which of his parents had won the match. He heard them wrestle at home on their bed sometimes, but when he asked them when he could try it they told him he would understand wrestling when he was a grown-up and changed the subject. He asked his grandpa Russ too, who just laughed at him and told him he would learn about wrestling when he hit puberty. He didn't know who this Puberty guy was, but he hoped he would teach him to wrestle someday because it sounded like fun.



Ackerley never tires of making lobster thermidor. I guess he doesn't concern himself with the cost, so it's a good thing that they can afford it or I'd have to start locking him out of the kitchen and leaving out Jello for him.



Almost before they (or I) knew it, they were home again. I wish I had taken more pictures of the vacation, but I think they had a good time. As you can see, Ackerley brought home a friend named Blair. I don't know if the rest of the family was as thrilled as he was, but there are advantages to having a Bigfoot live with you. They have all their skills and badges, so they can make quite a bit of money and are great as business employees. However, they may make up for that in the volume of food they consume.

As you can see, Blair wants to be a Space Pirate. Well, why not? He's certainly got a look about him that is intimidating enough.



Also, the people at work send gifts home with him every day. Maybe they are afraid and want to stay on his good side. I have read that Bigfoot can go nuts if he gets hungry or bored, although I have yet to see that happen personally.



Anyway, I make sure Blair gets plenty of long baths. He won't take them on his own. I look at it as an opportunity to distract him from eating for a few minutes.



I sense that Ackerley is not having fun. I think Meadow should slap him for looking at her that way. Meadow started a home business venue, and she is passing along a couple of connections perks to him. I cancel and restart the process frequently which seems to make the progress bar jump ahead faster.

The point of the home business is not really money, although it is nice. The point is to earn all the connections perks. Once they know every sim in the whole neighborhood, they will have a much easier time finding future mates that meet the legacy "requirements." (as ugly as possible)



People are in the yard trying to decide whether or not they are willing to hang out at the Thayer house. It's the most popular hangout in all of Pleasantview now. People come from all over town to slap dance, steal gnomes and eat meals cooked by Bigfoot, not to mention complain about dirty plates and get zapped by the SentryBot. I have actually seen sims gain positive star points after getting zapped and before running off the lot. The whole Thayer-house experience sounds like a blast, doesn't it? Oh, and now the whole town does the chest pound gesture and can slap dance. :P



Garridan is on his way off the lot to go steal back their gnomes. With the home business, it has become a full-time occupation to steal back gnomes, even with the SentryBot zapping them. Why do sims look so sinister when they're going to retrieve their own property? And why can't they leave the lot to steal other people's gnomes? It seems only fair.



Now this was a trip. Ackerley started spying on Mortimer before dark. Mortimer has been here at the Thayer house the whole time, and I didn't notice myself until he just walked out of the garage. I can see why Ackerley is confused. That would explain why Mortimer hasn't run over and slapped him yet. So now I wonder what this means... Does Mortimer have an evil/less evil twin? Does he have a clone? The truth is out there...

Tune in next time to see what happens when Fulton and Garridan hit their teens/YA years. I don't think you will be disappointed.