The Bauers: Round 4 / A Family Vacation

I'm going to poke fun at my real family a bit more this time - gently, of course. I can get away with it too, because there is not a single one of them that would voluntarily read this, not even Cassandra - although Cassandra would if she weren't taking care of three little kids. I think I'll be nicest to her. ;) Just kidding, I won't be very mean to anyone, because I do love them very much, and they would read my stories if I asked them to made them.



This is the Bauer family so far. All my children are represented, plus I got an extra, fake daughter named Amiee.



The last time we saw the Bauers, I had just given birth to twins Ian and Christopher. In real life they are not twins, and I'm grateful. They do, however, often get mistaken for twins now that they are older. Ian is 2 1/2 years older, but Christopher is at least as tall as Ian now. They like the same styles and like to share clothes, and for awhile they had the same hairstyle. Even I had to see their faces to tell them apart sometimes. Since then Christopher has cut his hair shorter, so no more double-takes for me.

Because of the twins, Scott needed the day off because Nanny Shenene got confused about the schedule, and I had already left for work. He didn't have any vacation days, so he had to call in sick.



I'm glad I went to work that day, because I got a promotion to All Star.

♫  Hey now you're an All Star get your game on, go play...  ♫

Anyone else's brain do that every time you hear the words "All Star?" It was on the radio every few minutes for awhile there. Oh, sorry... you'll probably have that stuck in your head all day now. ;)



Yes, Scott's great, but he would never try to flaunt it like this. Amiee gets an A+, and takes it to him. It's sad, but in real life Scott was gone a lot while the kids were growing up - first in the military, and then later with his job. Those times he was gone were difficult for all of us. Thankfully, he has a new job now that allows him to be home every night.



Why is it that the kids feel compelled to put their homework on this side of the desk, but then they're physically unable to remove it once it's there?



I finally earned my punching bag. Why would I ever want a punching bag?



Jason has decided to make fitness his one true hobby. Good, it's better than playing Second Life all the time, although who am I to talk with all my Sims 2 playing? Both of us have games as our one true hobby in real life.

Jason is no longer playing many video games at all, because he's in Iraq, serving with the U.S. Army. I'm really proud of him. And yes, the Army has definitely improved his fitness and his interest in being fit, and not only because they made him do it. He now voluntarily thinks about getting enough sleep, drinking plenty of water, etc. Not only that, but the boy stands up straight for the first time in his life.



The nuances of cleaning? Huh? Anyway, Scott learned to clean stuff in the U.S. Marines. Marines don't do nuances.



Crap. I hate tinkering. Why does my sim have to love it?



And why does my sim want to be an athlete?

Any why am I such a horrible sim parent?

My question is, why have a buddy that isn't that bright? Why not make best buddies with the smart kid? Or better yet, why not be the smart kid?



And why do Ian and Christopher always both need a diaper change at the same time? I'm so glad I never had twins in real life. I always thought it would be cool, but I was delusional.



Triple birthdays - Ian and Christopher will share. Amiee gets hers in there too so we can get them all over with at once.



Amiee is a teen, and decides she has finally outgrown the dragon costume.



Time for me to toss my little buddy.

I guess Amiee got jealous and tried to steal the birthday spotlight with her Lifetime Want. At least she had the decency not to be romance.



Scott tosses Ian.



Awww, and here is Christopher, tossing leaves in hopes that they'll grow into trees - or just because it's fun.



We now do duel potty training duty. I won't miss potty training.



Amiee (whose name I spell Aimee half the time) wants to become Captain Hero. Why can't more sims have goals like this? I like this LTW, Amiee. How does this work out for you with your 2 nice points? You aren't going to give in to corruption, are you? Police brutality?



And poor neglected Ian fell asleep on the floor.



And so did Christopher. You would think I was playing Toddlermania, as it seems 2 toddlers was beyond my abilities while playing this Bauer round.

At least Jason is getting good grades.



Scott was promoted to Theorist.



And Christopher puts himself to bed now on a pet bed because I'm super lazy. Actually, the real Christopher never had trouble sleeping - I think because he was never forced to go to bed or take a nap. He would just crash somewhere, usually with a matchbox car in each hand. If it was night, we'd just move him into his bed. As a child and teen, he always just goes to bed when he's tired.



Ian was a different story, however sim Ian does well at putting himself to sleep. Now that real Ian is a teenager, he has no trouble sleeping either. Now he just has to learn how to wake up.



Christopher's sim personality will prove to be part of this story. It is similar to his real personality, only he's not that extremely neat or playful, and I will say he's not quite that lazy, although my mother insists that he takes avoiding work to an art form.

Jason is not this neat, and is more playful.



Amiee is what she is - a fake Bauer, but she's not that bad so far, except for stealing all the neighbors' newspapers. Mean sims can be amusing sometimes, or at least it's nice to have variety.

Scott is enthusiastic about cuisine - as long as it does not contain any detectable vegetables. ;)



Hooray! Scott has earned his Lifetime Want of becoming a Mad Scientist. Yay Scott!



I'm now MVP. All those other players are nothing to me. ;)

Scott doesn't even get to ride in the limo or wear the Mad Scientist uniform, but immediately finds a new job in Architecture, which was the available job most suited to his real life interests.



I earned my tinkering plaque. I look thrilled, eh?



I headed down to the pet shop to finally get our dogs. Unfortunately, there are no lights inside the pet shop, so it's a bit dark. I tried to buy some pet accessories, but for some reason I wasn't able to buy anything besides pets. Still, I like the shop, and there are a whole set of them by Phaenoh.



Anyway, here is my dog Padi. She is a Sheltie or Shetland Sheepdog, although sim Padi will have to be the size of a collie, because the small dog is just too small to be a Sheltie. Sadly, the real Padi passed away recently, and I really miss her. It's nice to have a sim Padi.



And here is Obi, my other Sheltie. Obi has an interesting real life story, as my husband lost him in a state park a few years ago, and he was gone for exactly six months until someone reported seeing him daily, and with their help we were able to set up and trap him in a raccoon trap. It sounds like he should have just come to us, but he is a very timid animal, and was so freaked out about being away from home that he went into survival mode and wouldn't come near anyone. After a few days at home, he was back to normal again and it has been as if he was never gone.



And here is Piglet, a miniature dachshund. It isn't really possible to make her legs short, although Piglet isn't as short-legged as she should be in real life anyway. I think another dog must have sneaked into her family tree. And as it turns out, that's exactly what must have happened, because I got a letter one day from the AKC telling me that genetic testing showed that there was some discrepancy in her genetics. Well, I was very unhappy about that because I had paid for a registered miniature dachshund - who was no longer registered. :P But, I figure that breeder probably got her share of legal trouble from other customers. I didn't bother, as I only bought her to be a pet anyway. I was never planning to let her have puppies to sell.



And here we are walking home.



They are all very happy to have their chew toys. If these were rawhide, that would be the case. Obi is especially fond of rawhide.



Surprisingly, another dog came by and chewed on one of the bones, and Padi didn't try to annihilate him.



Oh, and this is not realistic. Padi was always bullying Piglet, not playing with her. She was just so jealous if Piglet got any attention, so she would either fight with her or stand on her. That is the one thing I don't miss. Of course, it didn't help that Piglet would often instigate trouble. It was like having more children with those two. We were always having to break up fights.



And here is Padi doing some yard work. Padi wasn't the one who liked to dig. Piglet loves to dig. She digs holes, and then buries rocks in them. Like I said, she's not that bright. ;)



This is a lovely picture of Amiee, but at least she won us some money Down at Game S'more.



Scott is now a draftsman, something he would do well at. My brother and I both actually took drafting in high school, and my brother used to work for a steel company as a draftsman.



Awww... We didn't have our dogs when Christopher was little like this. He would never snuggle with Piglet, though. He thinks she's really gross and tries not to touch her. No one else really has a problem with her. Actually, she has peed on guests a couple of times when they scared her. But other than that, as long as you don't smell her closely, she's fine. Her breath usually is the worst thing about her, although you will drop her immediately if she happens to be gassy. She loves to snuggle for warmth as she is almost always shivering cold because she's tiny and her hair is so short. If you can't find her, just look under a blanket, jacket, laundry pile - you get the idea. In the winter, she doubles as a hot water bottle if you're cold.



Time for another double birthday. Again, I have Christopher and Scott has Ian. That has pretty much been the arrangement in real life, as Ian listens better to his father. It's not that I don't love Ian, but he has just always been so strong-willed and independent. Christopher has always been very laid-back and low maintenance.



Jason seems happy to have a brother he can play with. This is Ian, BTW.

I lost the picture I made of Ian's sim personality from when he was a toddler, so I had to make a new one. I didn't want to stick it back with the toddler part of the story. Anyway, this is not really like the real Ian, except for the"active" and "nice" part. He may have 1-2 neat points, and is not terribly outgoing. He is way too playful sometimes.



And this is Christopher.



Piglet likes rolling in the dirt: TRUE. And she will roll in even grosser things if she can find them.



Scott is meeting our future son-in-law who will marry Cassandra.



Thankfully, the real Piglet doesn't chew things up. I debated on whether or not to let her chew up the homework. If I thought it wouldn't hurt the kids' grades I would have let her.



Cassandra was invited over from college to meet Morgan, and on their own they talked for many sim hours. I thought it was really cool.



Scott is digging a hole. Why? Because the first map he finds will determine where the family will go on vacation.

It looks like we're going to Takemizu Village.



Superstar! I love the Molly Shannon / Will Ferrell movie by that title.



It's time for Jason's birthday. Sim Jason didn't get a birthday yet, so we'll go with November 25th - his real birthday. I have no idea what year that will be yet in Apple Grove. I'm bad at math.



C'mon kid, spin! We want cake already.



And here is Jason as a teen.

Jason is a family sim. Knowledge or Pleasure would be more like it, but maybe someday he'll want a family of his own.



Jason doesn't like to talk on the phone enough to really need one of these, but sim Jason had a want for one.

Here is an updated family portrait.



Notice the green funk cloud coming off of Piglet? It's funny to watch the dogs chew on their bones while buried in the snow. I'm glad sim pets aren't affected by weather or I would really worry about them.

We knew that buying a vacation home would probably be more economical than staying in a hotel considering the size of our family and how long we were going to be there.



Here we are leaving. It will be good to get out of the snow.



We sat in the car for a long time before we realized we were waiting on Jason. Wow, this is so familiar. I remember doing that a lot when he was at home. Periodically, I would honk the horn, and then I'd begin to slowly drive away. He'd come running out... LOL.



This house is all wall-fences, which I hate. I would why they built it this way? Since we own it, we can do what we want and take down the fence.



Much better, plus we have more money to spend on vacation now.



We make a large group. We invited Cassandra and Charity to come along as well. How did we all fit in that minivan??? Is it a clown car?



Scott does not pull pranks. I would be much more likely to do this, although still not very likely. Ian would be most likely.



Poor Charity got her wallet stolen from the creepy charlatan.

We tried to report him as soon as we saw him on the lot, but he actually has to rip someone off before you can call the cops from the community lot's phone. Why wait?



Sorry, Charity. But, try to enjoy your chirashi.



Anytime we went somewhere, Christopher always got tired first. So basically I just kept an eye on his needs the whole time.



Fishing at home is something we can do with our remaining energy.



Notice I caught the fish while Scott caught the boot. It's only relevant in that Scott has never been fishing. I used to go fishing all the time as a kid because it was about the only fun to be had at my grandparents' house when we would visit in the summer. I would often catch more fish than my dad and uncle.



Cassandra comes to town in her nightie. She wouldn't do that in real life, though - pajamas maybe, but not a nightie. ;)



Christopher is exhausted again, so it's time to go back to the house.



Scott doesn't like fish except fried catfish, so he opted for rotten soup.



Amiee, please don't come into town in your underwear! I can't remember if she did or not.



Here I am trying to learn to teleport - to no avail. Eventually this place is going to get fixed.



Stupid slopes. I never did get to learn to teleport on vacation.



I did learn the acupressure massage, along with everyone else except the little kids.



Christopher can be a very funny person. It just comes to him naturally.



Scott buys souvenirs, something completely unlike him. He calls these things "trinkets and gizmos." I just wonder how they get them in the tiny boxes.



Where's Christopher? See him in the red shirt rubbing his eyes? Yep, it's time to go again.



Amiee earned her Games plaque. We set up a Mahjong table at the vacation house so everyone could earn their memory without having to hang around the community lot. It's so addictive that I wouldn't want one at the main house.



This is Jason in typical form. I should mention that besides games, he's a very good writer.



Only Scott and I went to the Pagoda lot, mostly because of the needy chaos we experience everywhere we go with the whole group. Only one of us had to befriend the old man, and then the other could "join" while he was telling the story. We both got scrolls.



C'mon old man, talk faster - time's a wastin'. Now that's charm and panache, right?



Poor Scott. He got poison ivy from the Shrine and was very itchy for awhile.



We told the dragon story to the kids, but we found out that you actually have to hear it from the old man to get the scroll and the memory. Why? What is the point if the story is the same?



It's my lucky day! The shrine is going to give me something good!



Money, ow, ow, ow! Painful!



So we all crammed into this helicopter for a tour...



And came out chased by bees.



Then more bees chased Amiee for wishing on the Shrine.



It's time to leave. See that person still fishing?



Yep, it's Jason again.



Careful, Ian! We used to call him Danger Boy when he was little because he had a knack for choosing the most dangerous things to do.



I wonder what these rack things really do. Obviously, they gave hobby enthusiasm, but so would any art you looked at. I can't detect my sims being any more skillful by being next to this thing.



Jason earned his Nature plaque.



Padi does one of her favorite tricks she used to do. She waited until no one was around, and started tearing into the trash.



Scott is promoted to architect. Way to go, Scott!



And last of all, I was promoted to Assistant Coach.

Scoring: 1 point for Scott earning his Cuisine plaque, 1 point for Scott earning his Lifetime Want, 1 point for Scott reaching the top of the Science career, 1 point for my Tinkering plaque, 1 point for Amiee's Games plaque, 1 point for Jason's Nature plaque, and I earned my Robotics gold badge, which I forgot to get a picture of (will be 1/2 of 1 point if I earn a second badge). We all also collected a lot of vacation memories in Takemizu Village.