Mendez, Samson and Sommers

There are three households called Mendez these days. Russell and Regina moved to a small house together, while Pablo took most his wife's money and moved to a house of his own.

But first up is Dominic, Russell and Regina's son, with his wife Colleen (née Boucher) and their son Raoul.
Colleen wants to be a Martial Arts Master, while Dominic dreams of a Bottomless Nectar Cellar.

They will travel to China first, since that wish seems to be more complicated - involving a lot of tournaments and training.

Colleen managed to get up to level 5 in martial arts. She also participated in a tournament, but lost twice in a row. She is up to balsawood boards now, though.

Dominic and Raoul did a lot of fishing, and Colleen also harvested a lot of plants. She needs the gardening skill for her job (in science) and Dominic could use her help once he gets around to his own wish of becoming a nectar maker. For now he is in business, because it's no use being a nectar maker when you don't even have a nectar machine.

* * *

Pablo does have a nectar machine. He took it when he left the Harrell household. So far he hasn't done anything with it, though - he's got so much money that he really doesn't need to work... His lifetime wish hasn't got a chance, since there apparently aren't any 'rich' Sims in town. He might have to look abroad for a new victim.

* * *

The third Mendez family are Russel and Regina. Regina is almost at level 5 of her law enforcement career, so it looks as if she's not going to get to the top before she retires.

Russell is working on his chess ranking.

This round he worked himself up from level 2 to level 3, but it took a lot of work - at this rate he'll be almost dead before he gets there.

* * *

Blake Samson isn't going very fast either, but fortunately he's only just about to become adult, so he does have time. He wants to be the Leader of the Free World, and so far managed to work himself up to campaign intern (level 3). He's been working on his charisma.

Melanie, the wannabee Fashion Phenomenon, has been giving make-overs to random friends and relatives. She's now a 'polka dot specialist'.

This very weekend Lori had her birthday, too - giving her mother a good excuse to give her a make-over as well. 

That make-over and a sketch or two was enough to make Melanie a 'houdstooth soothsayer'  - level 4. At this rate she'll get there without too many boring make-over jobs to do. (CAS is murder on this computer!)

Lori got herself a job as a Spa Specialist.

* * *

And lastly, the Sommers family. Christopher still lives with his parents, Terra and Jake. Jake is an elder now, and has already achieved his wish of Culinary Librarian. Terra is at level 8 in her career, but she chose the wrong branch for her lifetime wish.

She might yet finish that career branch, even though it won't do her much good.

Christopher wants to be a Scientific Specialist. To do so, he needs to max the science skill and get to the top of either the science, the business or the medical career. He chose medical and is now a paramedic (level 3).

* * *

Just for fun, here's a random wet raccoon in the middle of the main road in town.

The Kims and the McGoverns

First visit is to Ho Sung Kim and his family. His daughter Xiu Ying still lives at home, as does Huan Chao. He's recently become engaged to Bianca Harrell, and they're planning a wedding.

They start off with a breakfast of waffles. Which of course, you eat with chopsticks if you're Chinese:

The wedding is held at City Hall.

* * *

Next is the more important work. Xiu Ying wants to be 'The Tinkerer', so she is learning when to use a wrench, and when to use a screwdriver:

And while she's working on that wish - by repairing everything and then starting to upgrade - her father is working on his 'Superstar Athlete' wish. He is at level 8, and only needs to go to level 9, but it takes longer than expected.

By the time he's there, Xiu Ying also finishes her last logic book. So that's two more lifetime wishes acccomplished.

And Bianca brings home the newest member of the Kim family: Alexander.

Like his brother before him, Huan Chao is tired of tongue-breaking Chinese names. :)

* * *

In the meantime the aforementioned brother, Yi Quan Kim, is working on his own wish. He wants to be 'Presenting the Perfect Private Aquarium'.

His wife Wu wants to be a 'One Sim Band'. Gillian is too young to have a lifetime wish. Other than buying them some new furniture, including an aquarium, I didn't spend much time with them this round. Both wishes can be accomplished even when they're elders, they don't need a lot of work.

* * *

Next up are the McGovern families. Since Stacia moved out there are two of them, too.

Trevor and Constance still live at home, with Jerome and Malinda. Jerome aged up to elder and retired. He got up to level 4 in the music career and only has 6 out of the 20 friends he needs for his lifetime wish. Malinda managed to get promoted to CEO (her LTW is fulfilled), but actually got demoted right back to vice president.

Constance wants to reach the top of the psychic career, as a scam artist (of course) and Trevor wants to be a lifeguard.

Somebody in the McGovern household seems to be fond of creepy snowmen...

No idea who made that thing, but it's creepy!


On the other side of town the eldest daughter Stacia lives with Raphael, her son - who begins to look alarmingly like his father, Pablo Mendez.

Stacia wants to be a Jack-of-all-Trades. She's reached level 5 in sports and now works in politics. She's up to level 3 and just turned full adult. They live in the house where Pablo used to live.

A cowplant and a mummy...

Next up are the Harrell families.

Kelsey still lives with her son Nathan (and his wife Abbie), her grandson Leonard (and his wife Janelle), and her great-grandchildren, Sheila and Donovan.
And of course her new husband Pablo Mendez. (She didn't take his name.)

Pablo thought he had found a great way to try to achieve his 'Golddigger' wish. He bought Kelsey a cowplant to play with...
Then he made sure he distracted her every time she wanted to go to the fridge, until she was really, really hungry. The first time she wasn't on time to get the cake.

However, the next time the cowplant waved its delicious cake bait in her face, Kelsey managed to grab it.

And the cowplant swallowed her whole.

Leonard scolds the plant afterwards, and it seems to be chastised...

However, Pablo's lifetime wish isn't fulfilled. Apparently Kelsey wasn't 'rich' when they married. Either that, or it's a glitch.

Pablo may not have achieved his wish, but he did at least get some youth out of drinking the cowplant milk right after the plant digested his wife. That gives him time to try again!

In the meantime, Grim stuck around, playing chess on Nathan's computer. Maybe he was hoping there would be more to reap in this family?

Maybe he was hoping to grab Nathan? He has been discovering the joys of snow, and building snowmen. But he hasn't quite grasped the concept of "outerwear" yet.

Nope, Nathan didn't freeze to death. (Probably because he wasn't hungry and/or tired enough.) So if that's what Grim had been waiting for, he'll be disappointed!!

In the meantime, Leonard Harrell is working on his "Firefighter Superhero" wish, but so far he hasn't been asked to save anyone. It's all just maintenance.

This is one wish that probably can't be done here in Winchester.

* * *

And then there's the otherr branch of the Harrell family. It's only three of them now, Daniel, Sofia and their eldest daughter, Rosanna.
Bianca moved in with her boyfriend Huan Chao Kim.

Rosanna used some of her LTR points to change her Lifetime Wish. She now wants to be 'The Empress of Evil'.
It's just a matter of getting her in the right career - her evilness will do the rest!

Daniel already accomplished his wish to be a 'Visionary', and this time around Sofia works very hard to achieve her 'Private Museum'. It takes two trips to Egypt, but once she has a Tear of Horus to show her all the digsites, it goes very fast.

While she was busy excavating, Daniel found other things to do.

And because they were tired of tents, they bought a small vacation home in Egypt, too.

Although maybe *some* of the locals are a bit too...eh... friendly?

It's all well and good to admire the local women, but there are limits!!

An Alphabetical round

I took some pictures around town - some of the new community lots.

This is the new business building with the bistro next door. (I think that's Wu Kim in the yellow dress.)

And the art gallery, with some pictures of Elden Adams on the walls.

And the farmers' market, which is basically a supermarket (rabbithole in the basement).

Everyone has grown a lot older since the last time I took family pictures, so I rotated around everyone alphabetically o take new family portraits.

The Adams Legacy family: Judith and Brandon, Gwendolyn, Yue Xiulan holding Roger, Shawn, and Dexter.

And the other branch: Michael, Angelina (Bundy), Chen, Sun Young and Victor.

Then there's Harmony, first of the Thao triplets, with her husband Yves Bernard and their daughter Colette.

And their son, Julien, with his wife Ginny and their daughters Tracie and Gina.

Funny how the red hair keeps coming back, generation after generation...

By alphabet, after the Bernard families, there's now a new family: Bryan Fox and Susannah Thao. They are off to University Town to finish their degrees.

Bryan still has two more degrees to go before he can call himself a 'Major Master', but Susannah finishes her 'Renaissance Sim' without any problems. One more painting once she is home again, and it's in the bag.

The next thing they do is get married: