House 002 Chapter 3 < | > House 002 Chapter 5

Checking on where we are for our goals:

House 002 Building Goal:
40,000 value home (2 bedroom, 1 bath minimum)
(complete- 2 bedroom, 3 bath house)
House 002 Generational Goals:
Marry in an NPC (complete)
Outdoor Enthusiast (halfway done!)
YA aged heir (Currently child age)

I spend much of the sim-week between the last post and this working on his herbalism, and I get him to level six. (I'm working on this while Christian goes through his school week, I'll go camping again on the weekend.)

Really you two? You have to talk in the bedroom while Xander is trying to sleep? I personally wouldn't be able to sleep with people talking in the room.

That Friday after school, I sent the family out camping again, I'll spend most of the time at the National Forest lot and I hope to find and befriend the hermit (provided I can find the brambles.. I've never managed to before.)

After showing up at the campground, I immediately send them to the National Forest and put down our Cabin-in-a-bag and a cooler for Shaina and Christian.

Somehow, I forgot he was hungry before we traveled, so the first thing I do is have him grill some hot dogs.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one hungry.. Christian immediately pounces on the cooler and has a snack.

... I wonder if Christian is wishing he waited for hot dogs??

I spend most of the first day and night hunting for bugs and plants, and futilely trying to find the brambles that lead to the hermit. I finally give up and send Xander to bed until the morning, when I start looking again (it's very hard to see in the dark in Granite Falls).

Look what I FINALLY found! I can't tell you how much time I've spent in games trying to find this place, and never being able to. After breakfast, I paused the game and did a last ditch attempt to find it... I was so frustrated, and the pictures in the guides just didn't seem to be helping. Then, I just stumbled on it.. and oriented myself so I would be able to find it again in another game.

Hello hermit! Xander wandered around picking up plants and bugs before I finally noticed her, and then I set to making a friend. Coincidentally, he had a whim to make a friend, so we finished that while finishing the "befriending" the aspiration required. I push some more, trying to get to good friends for the fertilizer recipe...

... Success!

While Xander wanders looking for more bugs and plants (I really wanted to catch the unique-to-this-area bug, the will-o-the-wisp, so I needed to stay until it was dark), Christian spends some time socializing with the hermit in her little house. Such a cute little house, too.

I also catch this cute photo that makes it look like the hermit is chasing after this little chipmunk. (Spoiler.. she wasn't.. lol)

Also while waiting to find that bug, I fished some in the hermit's little fishing hole and got some salmon and bass to sell. I did finally find the bug at the end of the night, and headed back to the national forest to make sure my tent and cooler was still there.

It was! Shaina and Christian have hot dogs for breakfast while Xander catches up on sleep.

Some family time in the welcome center...

... and a bear sighting. *chuckles* Those bears are so funny.

A very dark photo of Christian and Shaina playing horseshoes at night.

... A ghost stargazing? .. That's not something I've ever seen in the game. I was looking for fireflies and found this glowing figure in the dark woods instead... haha.. I had to laugh.

Back home.. Xander and Christian have breakfast before he heads off to school, and Xander heads out for more gardening.

Surprise.. Christian made it to an "A" in school thanks to the focusing lamps in the house. He barely made it, too, since he's getting very close to his teen birthday.

After gardening, I work on Xander's herbalism skill, since the only thing he needs for this tier of the aspiration is to identify the plants he picked up in Granite Falls. I keep getting the "skill not high enough to know what the plant is" notice, so it's back to the grill for Xander.

Finally! At level 8 herbalism, he was able to learn the last plant!

Oh.. I found these in the forest while hunting fireflies. These are my very favorite of all the bugs out there - they're just SO cute! I put them out on Xander's bedside table.

... And this is that will-o-the-wisp that I waited so long to find at the hermit's house. It makes a cute little spooky noise when you're close to it, too.

I don't want to neglect my plants... so I keep hiring the (free thanks to free services) gardener and having Shaina help me. I sold all the dragonfruit plants because they simply take too long to grow fruit to be worth it (I did keep the spliced plants, they don't take as long) and replaced them with two of each of the Granite Falls plants. I figure this will be a good way to make sure I have enough components for herbalism.

Shaina ages to elder.. she doesn't seem to be too happy about it.

They have a rather animated conversation later that day after the garden is cared for.. I though it was cute.

With everything done at home and energy left over, I send Xander back to Sylvan Falls to try to get a pomegranate again. (I don't know why, but since I got the orchid plant from the lily and snapdragon splicing, I kinda want to get a pomegranate to make a death flower plant. There's no particular reason for me to have it, I just haven't gotten it in Sims 4 and would like to get one.)

.. Checking on our aspiration.. looks like we have our work cut out for us. I should probably be able to get the insects in our next weekend's trip to Granite Falls without any problems.

I was planning on using a sleep replacement potion while he fished in Sylvan Falls, but he managed to catch my Pomegranate fairly quickly, so I sent him home, stuck a tent out on the patio, and started working on our 5 tent sleeps. It's nerve wracking having them try for those since they're so buggy and I'm afraid anything waking him up will cancel it out too soon. (This one was a success, by the way.)

Today is Christian's last day as a child.. and he still gets his homework done in time. Sometimes he even does the extra credit!

Happy Birthday Christian! I can't say I'm too fond of his look.. I may have to change his outfits and get rid of that hat when he takes over heirship next house.

Well, that's a good place to leave it. Not much left to do.. the house is completed and decorated to my liking, I'm on the last milestone for the aspiration, and Christian is now a teen. I think I should definitely be able to get everything done before he grows up!

House 002 Chapter 3 < | > House 002 Chapter 5