The Avery's of Sunset Valley (a Dynasty)

[Pam]

I made a major flaw in my planning as far as LTW's was concerned and I really don't like my chances of continuing, so it's back to the drawing board. I won't bother doing the full story here until my second generation is at young adult, then I'll pick up the story again.

How was your plan majorly flawed?  You were very early in the Dynasty and Jackson had successfully made it to immortal?  Where was the snag?  I'm just curious and wondering if I can help somehow. 

[Twinmum]

How was your plan majorly flawed?  You were very early in the Dynasty and Jackson had successfully made it to immortal?  Where was the snag?  I'm just curious and wondering if I can help somehow. 

My problem wasn't with Jackson, but with his daughter Daphne, and it probably comes down to the way I play - other players could have the same choices and be quite happy. My plan involved her being a sculptor both for career and supermax skill. However, when she aged up, with the traits I had given her, she only had a choice of two LTW's that didn't involve maxing out skills that would interfere with future generations. She could have the Fashion Phenomenon LTW or the Home Design Hotshot LTW. Both would require a change of career, but Design Hotshot is reportedly not really attainable in a normal lifespan, so that just left Fashion Phenomenon. I really wasn't comfortable with this choice for her to take on as it's not a field I like - I tried to have all the careers and skills ones that I was fairly confident in achieving. These challenges are after all, about enjoying the experience and I didn't want something that was going to be a chore from the start.
This time, I have done a bit more planning with traits and hopefully, Nicholas will get a LTW that i can do. I certainly hope so anyway, because I do want to get to generation 8.

Norma

[Pam]

Ok, I see.  I don't have mine mapped out like some others have.  I'm basically just winging it with each generation, but I know which Lifetime Wishes to avoid.  I hope I don't run into a wall further down the line!

Daphne has the same odd-coloured hair that Holly's daughter Wimsey has in my Dynasty!  Well, Wimsey's hair is black and white, while Daphne's appears dark brown, but those light coloured ends are the same.  Must be part of their Alto heritage.

Great re-start.

This really made me laugh when I got a good look at Corinne Alto in my Dynasty game.  She's the daughter of Holly and Mortimer (Goth) Alto.  I think the two-toned hair comes from Nick Alto.  At the moment I captured this picture, she was distressed because my insane Indigo Dreamweaver was swimming in her pool, which is apparently inappropriate behavior. 

[Twinmum]

Nicholas has been trying to get to know some of the girls at school. On Friday, Sasha Locke came to visit and they chatted before celebrating Nicholas’s birthday. She seems nice enough and is quite pretty, but Nicholas can’t keep thinking on how a lot of the girls he has met are slobs. He supposes that he could change their ways, but he’s not sure.



As a graduation present, Jackson and Holly sent Nicholas on a holiday to Egypt. All they asked of him was to bring back a good camera and some recipe books for Holly. Jackson also told Nicholas that if he could find some exotic gems or metals, he might be able to help him on his way to achieving his life time wish of living in the life of luxury.



Nicholas had plans on buying the things for his parents, then go off and do some exploring and adventuring. He managed to get the camera his father wanted and was lucky enough to pick up three pieces of mummitorium at the relic shop. He wandered over to the bookshop to get the recipe books for his mother and that was when he saw her. He had to get to know this beauty behind the counter.



Her name was Tahiya and while she did not want to tell him her age, Nicholas found that she is artistic, a genius and good. Nicholas managed to do some exploring and picked up several gems for his father, but for the most part, he was content to spend time in the bookshop talking to Tahiya.
When he got home he couldn’t wait to tell his parents about this Egyptian beauty and invite her for a visit.
Meanwhile it was Holly’s birthday and Jackson threw a party for her. Nicholas used the opportunity to check out the local girls one last time before Tahiya arrived, but he was sure none of them could compare to her.
Sunday, Tahiya arrived and Nicholas wasted no time in romancing her some more and proposing to her. She too was smitten and said yes. Jackson decided that their Sunday party should be a wedding party and so the couple married in front of all the family friends.



Once they were married, Tahiya achieved her life time wish, thanks to Jackson’s wonderful garden and revealed to Nicholas that she was in fact already an adult. This didn’t worry him too much, but they decided that they would not waste any time in having a child. Tahiya also admitted to being a vegetarian like Holly.
Holly finally reached level 10 in her cooking and learnt the recipe for ambrosia. Jackson checked all his requirements and suddenly realised he was missing a burger plant. He had to race into town and buy some patties to plant. He was also down a best friend, but a quick call to Janel Guinn and that was all sorted.
So at 79 days Jackson was able to eat his first serving of ambrosia.



Norma

[Joria]

Norma, love it.  Too sleepy to say more.  G'night all.

[Twinmum]

Boy, is this update overdue. I haven't had the greatest week. In a household of 5, I've had one teen home from school off and on because of a knee problem, one home with some horrible lurgy, hubby is laid up with an arthritic problem and a bad ear infection and I have had a rough few days with an ongoing back problem. Needles to say, I haven't been able to concentrate much on anything for too long, but today I managed to get into my game and remember what I was up to!

So the story continues.

Tahiya gave birth to a healthy baby boy who they named Andrew. Jackson has become very attached to the child, often running to be the one to pick him up and tend to his needs.



The family found that their monetary situation was improving, so Jackson decided it was time finish the upper level of the house, well the shell at least. There is a lot of work to be done on the individual rooms, but they can be finished as needed by future family members. He also built himself a greenhouse for his garden, had a pond dug out that he will eventually stock with fish and built a gazebo which both Holly and Tahiya like to use when painting.




Andrew aged up to a toddler and has his mother’s dark hair.



Then one day... tragedy!
Nicholas was teaching Andrew to talk, Tahiya was painting and Jackson was in town attending to some business. Nobody heard Holly’s screams till it was too late. She had been sculpting in metal, a medium she rarely used, and somehow managed to set herself on fire. She tried to get herself to the shower, but left it too late.
Jackson arrived home just as Grim was leaving. Of course he was devastated.



He moved her headstone into his greenhouse so he will be near her often.



With Holly’s demise, the family have had to rethink the way they live. Fortunately, she had made several serves of ambrosia and stored it in the replicator and Nicholas is at level 7 in painting so he can do Andrew’s toddler portrait. Tahiya should be at a level 7 by the time his child portrait needs to be done as well as Nicholas’s adult and elder portraits. Nicholas is now busy trying to get 10 ice sculptures done before Andrew’s next birthday so they will have an ice sculpture of him. Tahiya will work on ice sculptures too so that she can do Nicholas’s later ones, but more importantly, she will need to improve her cooking skill and learn to make ambrosia so that when the supply runs low, she can make more.




Norma

[Anushka]

What an update! I love this greenhouse and gazebo! And I'm so sorry for this early loss in a family, but it seems as they are a strong dynasty that can survive anything! Great job!

[Saltypaws]

Sorry to hear about everything and hope all is better.  Great update and too bad about Holly, but, yes, they do seem strong, good luck.

[Pam]

Very glad to see you back to writing the story.  The greenhouse is stunning!  How did you get the glass on the roof?  And Andrew made me squee! 

[Twinmum]

@ Pam
The greenhouse is a CC set. The roof pieces can be placed on the ground or flooring. I could have put some flooring down and then the roof, but it didn't look right, so because we can use the moveobjects cheat, I did it that way. It looks more realistic.
I love greenhouses and have always had CC greenhouse kits, until they introduced them in Open for Business (I think that was the EP)

Norma

[Pam]

Hopefully, they'll put greenhouse stuff into the game sometime.  I'll just wait.  Thanks for the information. 

[Joria]

Well done!  Seems to me there are a lot of deaths of fire from sculpting or inventing.  Definitely putting a shower in BEFORE my heir sculpts or invents!  Love that green house.  Thinking hard about whether or not I should CC.  It might tempt me to use it in other challenges and CC is generally forbidden.

[Bellalupa]

Great Dynasty! By the way, how did you get windows on the roof for the green house??

[Pam]

Well done!  Seems to me there are a lot of deaths of fire from sculpting or inventing.  Definitely putting a shower in BEFORE my heir sculpts or invents!  Love that green house.  Thinking hard about whether or not I should CC.  It might tempt me to use it in other challenges and CC is generally forbidden.

It's a bad idea.  This is the Forum Manager strongly urging you not to get involved in third party custom content. 

[Schipperke]

I've never had custom content, but when I see that stunning greenhouse, boy, it's tempting.  Very interesting story.