Rotation 6: Olsen

I'd like to start this update with a shoutout to Blogger for allowing me to accidentally delete an entire saved draft, autosave the blank post, and then provide no way for me to recover the earlier draft so that I was forced to rewrite the entire post. :)

Summer has arrived for the Olsens, and it's time to put their backyard patio & pool to good use!

I tried to throw a specific goaled party, but it wouldn't let me invite Jeff and his fam unless I invited them all individually.

On that note, it'd also be nice if pool party or barbecue were actual party options, or if you could customize your own parties like with holidays. Maybe I should just create my own summer holiday...

The little kiddie pool is probably one of my favourite items from seasons; I like that it's actually usable with all the ages, and that you can have more than two toddlers use it at once. Also holy shit, the palm tree actually sprays water.

Actual effort? In my toddler activity items? Turned out to be more likely than I thought.

Miko mixed up some lemonade, which went ignored by almost everyone. Getting these idiots into the pool was a feat on its own, so I wasn't about to corral all these dumbasses out just for a glass of lemonade.

Toddlers can only use the kiddie pool with adult supervision, so once all the adults were in the pool the toddlers ended up making messes and wandering around.

I'm not too sure why trekking up a giant ass flight of stairs is considered any safer than leaving a toddler alone in a pool unsupervised, but that's sims logic for you.

Look I know this is also bad pool safety, but it's also very cute.

Eventually Polly and Cas announced that they had to leave, and disappeared, and then Jeff and Alec just kind of disappeared too without actually saying anything themselves.

I had Miko fill up this bird feeder after everyone left, and she got attacked immediately by several birds.

Luna has been making some good progress on her Parenthood skills this round; she's got a high enough responsibility meter to get it as trait when she becomes a teenager. Her manners are also doing very well, since she tends to be the one who goes around and collects all the dirty dishes.

From what I've played of rotation 6, all my sim kids seem to be doing well or poorly in different areas, which is nice because I was worried they'd all end up being top-notch toddlers with only positive traits.

The school projects are also a nice addition, but I feel like they're going to be something all my kids excel at, because doing the project carefully is obviously the better option, so why would I even bother to choose the shitty one?

The snow destroyed Miko and Andy's gay propaganda, but I was able to have her repaint the same mural once it popped up as a job task.

Unlike Caleb, Miko's at home charity tasks have yet to give me any issues, which is nice because I typically have her stay home to look after the kids, while Andy gets sent off to work.

I did give Andy one 'vacation' day this rotation, so that she had some extra time to go around and upgrade some more of their furniture.

I discovered just this rotation that you can actually upgrade the dryer so that it no longer needs the lint trap cleaned, which will hopefully prevent any more laundry fires when I have other sims on the lot for a visit.

I also sent her off to Geek Gon, because she always misses it due to work.

Andy has the highest programming skill of my all sims, so she always kills the hackathon whenever she actually gets a chance to participate.

I have been slowly working on Luna's aspiration. The new parenthood stuff has been a bit of a distraction, but seeing as there's only 4 aspirations I'm not super fussed if she only manages to complete the one before she ages up.

One of her goals was to have an adult read to her for a set number of hours, and I love that she chose to catch popcorn in her mouth as she listened to Andy.

Ariel was a little neglected this rotation, in terms of me taking pictures and making sure she was working on her skills. I don't normally give my toddlers tablets, mostly because my sims families haven't really had the spare funds to afford them, but holy fuck have I been missing out; they're amazing.

They build basically everything except the potty skill, which is the only skill I've been able to consistently have my toddlers max.

Kitty also decided she has not getting enough attention this rotation, and so the little fucker ran away.

My pets seem to have a problem eating out of their food bowls unless I direct them to eat? I've had the same issue with Rocket, although I tend to notice when he's hungry a lot sooner, because he's a lot larger and Jeff and Alec's apartment is a lot smaller.

Kitty kind of blends in with the floor most of the time, lol.

Luna then decided she also would like some more attention, and put on this atrocious bear suit, which I immediately removed after looking up the trait code for it.

I like the concept of kids and teens going through phases, but I wish I could customize them like you can do with holidays and clubs.

I want to make my own terrible phases like "demanding lime green carpet for your bedroom" or "keeping a livejournal and using mcr lyrics for all your cut text", and most importantly "drawing nothing but attractive women while simultaneously denying your attraction to women."

After getting rid of the bear suit, I sent Luna down to the park to make some friends. I don't have a lot of sim kids in my save, so I borrowed Will and Elizabeth Hendrick from Livy's Hot Ladies Association, and plopped them in my save for Luna to befriend.

They didn't hang out at the park for very long, so I invited them over with the intent of having them play outside in the pool. That did not happen, because I was unable to have Luna invite them to swim with her, for some unknown reason.

After playing some video games, Will sat down and pulled out some homework to work on. What a fucking nerd.

I was eventually able to have Luna invite Will to sit and chat by the pool? But he barely sat long enough for me to get a picture of the two of them.

I think I'm just going to try making my own holidays, to see if it helps nudge sims into doing the activities I want them to do. Having a club might help also, I suppose? I might rework the Gay Agenda into being a club for Andy and Jeff's families, too.

They've saved up a good chunk of money since moving into their house, and I was finally able to build a little science lab for Andy.  She had a room for the invention rig in their old apartment, but I had to sell it when they moved so that they could afford the furnished house.

I had her build the object cloner, because it's super helpful for getting multiples of the rarer collectible items.

Another thing I recently discovered is that aliens have the ability to revive these little jarred aliens?

 

She fucking cooked that middle jar, but I know you can find these little alien dudes in Sixam, so I decided to accompany her to her last day of work for the week to go get some more!

Strangerville has apparently broken the scientist career outfits, so all of Andy's co-workers were serving looks when she rolled up to work.

I was very pleased to see that the game pulls from my pool of Alien sims when populating Sixam! Last time I had Andy visit, it generated a bunch of garbage alien townies I didn't need (and later deleted), so it's nice to know that if I make my own the game will actually use them.

However, this meant that it also pulled alien babies to populate the area.

As part of a work event for the scientist career, there was a human party being held on Sixam that Andy was invited to attend, and Polly, being a wild child, came hauling ass across the map to join in.

Babies please, this is not your home. I can only imagine the conversation happening between Jeff and Alec back at the apartment.

Alec: Jeff, where are the kids?
Jeff: They said they're going to outer space, bro! They're so imaginative. :) :)

Cas was not super pleased about the amount of strangers in attendance, so he spent a portion of the party crying. This is why you don't travel to space without a dad present, Cas!

Polly, on the other hand, gave 0 fucks and just wanted to show off her sweet dance moves.

They're such cute lil shits, I can't even be mad.

I didn't take a lot of pictures the last time Andy visited, so enjoy some Sixam scenery!

While Andy ran around and harvested all the resources, Cas joined the dance party, and Polly helped decorate with some paints.

She then stripped off her clothes (something she's yet to do at any point during my gameplay with them), and I decided that was Andy's cue to leave.

I had her clone the little alien jars when she got back, so that if she ruined any of them I'd be able to have her try again.

She was interrupted by an impromptu alien abduction; it is possible the other partygoers got tired of looking after two toddlers, and so they beamed Andy up to come take care of them.

Hopefully I won't actually have to send Andy on a rescue mission to get Polly and Cas back...

These are the revived alien creatures. Pretty cute! It might be fun to make a little retail shops that sells the collectible frogs/insects/aliens as 'pets'.

I think I might have Andy work towards creating all the scientist serums, now that she has her own little science area at home, as well as a high enough career level that she can fuck around and travel to space without worrying too much about job performance.

Ariel celebrated her birthday at the end of the rotation. She didn't max out her skills like Luna did, but she did get all of them to level three (at least), earning her a happy toddler trait.

She looks a lot like a mini-Andy!

I went with the creativity aspiration for Ariel, and I'm planning on having her join the drama club as an after school activity.I think she'll probably be my first actress sim.

She immediately encountered the monster under the bed, and handled the situation by waking Miko up to spray it, and then helping herself to a little more birthday cake.

And then, since Miko was already awake, I had her jump in the hot tub with Andy for a bit.