Cordova Big Dreams Dynasty (5/10 Completed)

[GlazeyLady]

I’m guessing you want to know what happened next, and I’m here to tell you about it.

My youngest son Miles and my sweet wife Josie did indeed die that day, right out there in the front yard.


And ole’ Grim reaped Miles there in front of his brand new fiancee.
But thanks to Mason’s fast thinking, that wasn’t the end of the story.


Mason handed over a Death Flower, and ole’ Grim took it and raised Josie back up.


He infused her with life, and she was just fine. But Grim wouldn’t take a Death Flower for Miles.


Lucky for all of us, Josie is a Virtuoso Spellcaster. You could hear her Necro Call all the way to the Bramblewood.


And suddenly Miles’s ghost popped right up out of that tombstone.


Josie followed up with “De-Deathify!”, and with a wave of her wand, Miles was right there in the flesh in front of us.

Grim laughed all low and grumbly, and said, “Well played, Josette. You can have this one back. For now.” He was still chuckling as he floated off and disappeared. And that’s how we got Josie and Miles back from death. We still have Miles's tombstone. We keep it in the family inventory, but we might bring it out at some point, just as a reminder not to take the days we have in this Simverse for granted.



Marc: And now for some lighter entertainment, I heard some of you wanted to see more of the house. I’d be happy to show you around.




We’ll start with an aerial view so you can see how it all fits together.

The play area in the lower left is where the tragedy you just witnessed took place. Needless to say, I’ll be removing that camping mascot. Just above that in the picture is the wishing well that was so good to Mari and me.  It  has a green roof so it's a little hard to see, but it's just outside of the play area, tucked there in the corner. And then you see my money trees - I don’t know why they keep going back to new growth, but it’s a little frustrating. Beyond that is the work shed - that has a flower arranging station, a workbench and a juice fizzer, although we haven’t done much juice fizzing. In the very back is the solar farm. That keeps us in power and water; we can barely tell we’re off-the-grid. But Mama does a lot of Repairio and Scruberoo spells on that equipment.

Following on around, there’s Mason’s garden. That smaller fenced off area is Miles's, although at this point, with Mason nearly finished with his Big Dream, Miles really does most of the gardening. He’s not quite to level 10, so he’s happy to have the extra work right now. And then we have the animal sheds and chicken coop. Mason does the animal tending, but I expect Miles to be taking that over soon. You see the greenhouse there. That used to be locked up, with only Mason having entry privileges, but we all help out in there now. The pond there in front is stocked with Angelfish, Bass, Salmon, Tilapia, Tuna and Yellow Perch at the moment. We don’t fish there as much as we thought we would, but as kids we had a lot of fun playing in the water.


Here’s the front of the house, in case you never really got a look at it.


This is an overview of the main floor. The large square-shaped area is the kitchen and hearth room. The dining room is just off of that. The larger of the long rectangles is the family room and the smaller is the entry hall. The small room on the far right is Mama’s workroom. The small room in front nearer the kitchen is an inspired room, mostly for writing and painting. The other small room next to the blue bathroom has been all purpose - we’ve moved various things in and out of there as we’ve needed specialized space. The bedroom on the left is Mama and Dad’s room and you can see their bathroom there too. All-in-all, there are three bathrooms on the main floor. You can see the back porch there with some of Maci’s fall decorations out.


Here’s the kitchen. I don’t cook much - Mama and Mason use the stove the most.


This is the Hearth Room. We pretty much always keep a fire going. It gets a little chilly in Autumn here in Henford-on-Bagley.


This is the dining room. Maci’s got some decorations out here too.


This is Mama and Dad’s bedroom. It’s the only bedroom on the main floor.


This is the writing and painting room. You can’t see them from this angle, but there are some inspiring drawings on one of the walls and an inspiring sculpture near the door to help set the mood.


We spend a lot of time in the family room. We have parties here and dance to the stereo. You can see the family portrait on the wall there. It includes everyone but Maci, since she’s now living with her husband in Brindleton Bay.


This is the other side of the family room. Those stairs will take us to the second level. We’ll head up there in just a minute. One more room to see on this level.


Mama spent a lot of time in this room, crafting potions and flower arrangements. That one on the crafting station now is actually one of Mari’s. She followed Mama into the Floral Designer career. They scent those arrangements with crocus and we put them out by the beehives to keep the bees calm.


As we come up the stairs we have a little common area where we can read or just stop and chat.


We’ve used this game area a lot during Maci’s parties.


It’s not a big exercise room, but we all share and it works for us. Mama especially wanted that massage table . . . . something about grandkids . . . I don’t really use it. I just use the treadmill and meditate occasionally.


Here’s the nursery . . . ready for Spellcasters and non-Spellcasters alike. Mama comes up here and rocks sometimes. She says she’s practicing for when she has grandbabies, but we think she just likes the quiet.


You can’t see them all but there are two toddler beds and two twin beds in this room. This room will probably need redecorating when there really are children in the house, but Mama likes knowing it's ready for toddlers and kids.

And that’s all we have room for today. We skipped the bedrooms because you all saw some of each of those with all the antics of Miles’s birthday party. And the bathrooms are small and they are pretty typical-looking.

So that’s the house. It’s been great growing up here, but I’ll be leaving it before long to move to Del Sol Valley with Holly. Stop by and visit us sometime. I decorated most of that house too, and I'd be happy to give you a tour there if you want one.

[Granny Lawlor]

So glad that Miles & Josette revived. That was a close call.

Thanks for the house tour. It looks lovely!

[oshizu]

Such quick thinking on Josie and her Watcher's part!
So glad you got both your sims back!

Greatly enjoyed the house tour. What a beautiful and charming house!
Love all the open space you provided for Maci's parties!
Thanks so much for the tour!

[GlazeyLady]

Miles: Watcher has been very inattentive for a very long time. We haven’t been able to post updates because she never gave us the computer password. She claims she never shares that, but I know for a fact that she recently shared it with another Watcher! At any rate, we are happy to finally be back.

Especially since I get to show you what I did - I’ve never done any programming before, but look who took first place in the Hackathon!   


Marc: I’m just happy to have survived! It’s a good thing Mama had a Focused Potion to give me when I became hysterical! I could have died!
Miles: Yeah, tell me about it!


Mari: I was so happy to see Maci at GeekCon - and to see that she is expecting a nooboo!


Shelley: Mason and I had a great time at Geek Con! 


Mason: Today I was making more Healthy Treats for Blanche, but I was too late. Grim came for her before I could give her one. I ran out as soon as I saw him, but there was nothing I could do.


Mason: I am only missing that Rainbow Treat - once I make it, my Big Dream is finished. While waiting for the birds to come back, I asked Shelley to come chat with me. She did, and then she found this pile of leaves and pulled me into it. Now, why ever would she do that? 


Josie: Here Maci has another baby on the way and we haven’t even seen the first one! Jax and I just had to go visit.


Josie: Hello Big Boy! Your little brother or sister will be here soon, so we need to get you aged up to toddler! Aren’t you just precious?


Marcus: I don’t know if it was the additional legal work I did or contributing my knowledge, but something gave me a big boost to my work progress!


Josie: Hey, Summer! I have something for you! I know you’re getting close to your adult birthday, and Miles isn’t quite finished with what he needs to do here. I have a youth potion for you, so you’ll no longer be older than him!
Summer: That sounds great, but honestly, I’m a little worried that Miles wants to stay here to live. I really don't want to leave Willow Creek.
Josie: Well, honey, just tell him that.


Mason: I’m so glad Miles agreed to live in Willow Creek with Summer. That means you and I can live at the farm with Mom and Dad. And that means we can go ahead and get married and you can move in.
I promise to always . . . .blah blah blah . . . I do.
Shelley: I promise to always . . . blah blah blah . . . and I do too.


Agnes: You shameless hussy! Out here kissing that man in broad moonlight!
Shelley: He’s my husband Agnes! We just got married!
Agnes: Don’t you argue with me!


Shelley: No one invited you to this wedding!
Mason (trying to pull them apart): Stop! Stop!


Agnes: How dare you put your hands on me young man!
How do you like the feel of my purse to your backside?


Shelly: Mason and I escaped Agnes and we finished off my Soulmate aspiration in the waterfall. And then we heard Marcus got promoted to level 10 in his Law career! I'm not sure that was important enough to interrupt our honeymoon, but I'm happy for him.


Marcus: That promotion was so important because it marked the completion of my Big Dream, which means I can move out. Holly and I got married outside at our new home. Just a little family wedding.


Mari: Cam and I got married at Willow Congregational in Brindleton Bay. It’s a lovely little church/lounge built by Marjia that Watcher found in the Gallery.


Shelly: I have to admit I still have a bit of a grudge against Agnes for the way she butted into our wedding reception and beat the crap out of me for kissing my husband AT OUR WEDDING. So Mason and I stopped by her booth at the fair right after Mari and Cam's reception so I could give her a little gift - a beautiful flower arrangement that I had Mari make special . . . with an extra scent . . . of deathflower.


Shelley: Agnes seemed delighted. But when she opened it and took a big sniff of the lovely flowers, you know what happened?  NOTHING, that’s what. Absolutely nothing! 
DANG IT!!


Mari: Cam and I went on our honeymoon to Mt. Komorebi. Cam is an Extreme Sports Enthusiast, and he loved the outdoor fun.


Marcus: I came across these little kodama sprites as I hiked around Mt. Komorebi.


Marcus: I made it almost to the top of this wall, but then . . . plop!
I need to invest in some climbing equipment.


Cam: I enjoyed my day out in the cold, but I was ready for some hot food when I got back. Mari made us a wonderful meal. 


Mari: Now this is my idea of outdoor fun on a honeymoon! Not tramping around in the snow and climbing ice cold rocks!


Mari: Oh my! Pregnant on my honeymoon. How perfect!

[Granny Lawlor]

All the wedding photos are so beautiful. Lovely to see them back. 😀

[GlazeyLady]

All the wedding photos are so beautiful. Lovely to see them back. 😀

Thank you - it's great to be back.
I'll have another chapter to post tomorrow, and then I'll be pretty much caught up with where I am in play.

[GlazeyLady]

Mari: Hmmm . . . I wonder if he's really a ghost doctor, or just a ghost who used to be a doctor. I'm not sure I'd want a ghost doctor. I hear ghosts like to jump into things and break them, and that doesn't sound like a good thing, especially to someone like me who's about to slide into that delivery machine thingy.


Mari: Nate’s baby days were over in a flash - it was more like baby minutes, actually, not baby days. He’s like a little sponge, just soaking up everything. Always busy learning something new.


Mason: Finally! I got that Rainbow Treat! Now I can make one and my Big Dream is complete! As soon as Miles finishes his and moves out, Shelley can get the cat she’s been wanting. She’s almost topped her career, so when she and her cat complete the feather collection, all the Big Dreams are complete except for Mari’s, Cam’s and of course Nate’s. That means they can move out and Mari can move forward with her Big Dream which includes having three Top-Notch Toddlers.


Jax: Miles just needs to finish Harvested Interest, but it takes a long time to harvest from 50 wild plants in the winter. I’m pretty sure I can help out with that by changing the season. Winter is almost over anyway. If I move us up to Summer, he can spend a few days in Granite Falls and finish off that achievement, and then I can move us back to Spring.


Miles: Hi Mom! Tell Dad I said Thanks - it worked like a charm. My Big Dream is finished and I’m ready to marry Summer and move on to my even Bigger Dream of starting a life with her. We just want a family wedding in the backyard - can you and my sisters start getting that ready? I’m picking up Summer on my way home. We’re ready to get hitched!


Miles: Thank you all for making this wedding happen so quickly! Now we’re off to our new home in Willow Creek. Don’t be strangers!


Shelley: I adopted Ginger as soon as Miles moved out.  She’s a bit prone to jumping on counters and scratching the furniture. I sure hope she’s going to make up for that with some great bird-chasing moves!


Mari: We let Nate play on all the toddler toys one last time before blowing out his candles. Watcher modified the Playground gallery lot built by 321Joanalein and it was perfect for Nate’s birthday party.


Mari: He especially loves the ball pit.


Mari: Oh, my baby’s not a baby anymore! But he is quite a handsome boy!


Nate: I have a lot to do, so I’m getting started right off playing three games of chess with Uncle Mason.


Nate: I’m best friends with Marie Harris, but I’ll need more friends to be a Social Butterfly.


Cameron: I guess I wasn’t quite ready for the Level 5 Fire Challenge!


Shelley: Finally! Ginger and I completed the Feather Collection, and I got my promotion to Spin Doctor. Now Ginger is going to spend some time with Maci and her family until Mari, Cam, and Nate move out, so that there will be room for Mason and I to get started on a nooboo of our own!


Mari: Cam and I are both Spellcasters, so all our kids will be Spellcasters too. I’m really happy to be moving our family to Glimmerbrook. Watcher found an adorable 3-bedroom house called Magic Works, built by dxidxiak86, and moved it to the empty Glimmerbrook lot for Darrel Charm, his fiance Emilia, and his sister Gemma. They moved in a couple of weeks ago. Then Watcher bulldozed their old lot and built our Spellcaster’s Abode, by bubonickitten. I really love our new house, but I admit I am a little worried that Darrel and Emilia might be too crowded now that they’ve added triplets to their household. I hope Watcher gave them the option of moving if they need more room.


Mari: We didn’t do anything to encourage twins - we were actually planning on just one baby at a time, but life is full of surprises! We are now the proud parents of three boys - Nathaniel (Nate), our oldest, has been joined by Noah and Nicholas (Nick).


Mari: We aged them straight up to toddlers, and I am not joking when I say these boys are really close!


Cam: They really do like to do everything together.
Mari: I don’t know what’s up with their eyes! They are both so adorable, but I admit I am a little freaked out by their eyes.
Cam: Watcher thought it was a problem with something called Custom Content, but she searched and couldn’t find the problem. She said she didn’t have this before she installed a new pack, so maybe it’s something to do with that.
Mari: We’re hoping they will outgrow it when they age up on their birthdays.


Cam: Where one goes, the other follows.


Mari: Noah, in the red shirt, really only needs to master Imagination, while Nick really only needs to master Thinking. But I need them both to be Top-Notch Toddlers, like their brother, for my Family Matters Big Dream.


Nate: Mom and Dad are pretty busy with the twins, but I don’t mind. I have plenty to do, what with school, and scouts, and all the aspirations I’m working on. Lucky for me, these potions I’m making count for scouts and my Whiz Kid aspiration!


Mari: It was a challenge fitting in a second toddler bed, but Watcher needn’t have bothered. The boys prefer sleeping in the play tent where they can be together.


Cam: These little guys are just the best buddies ever.


Nate: Mom let me take a vacation day since I already had an A, so I got to learn to fish! It was really fun, and I caught some cool fish and got my Outdoor Adventurer Scout badge!

[Rhoxi]

Just got caught up on your delightful story: great read! My favorite bit is the constant, "God, Maci, no one wants to play with your stupid karaoke machine! (We just wanna woohoo.)" Also, I had no idea sims could create a feather collection. So cool! Looking forward to more!

[oshizu]

So happy that your Cordovas are back.  They have been sorely missed!
And what a bunch of gorgeous sims they are!

Is Agnes one of "those" immortal sims who can't be killed?

[GlazeyLady]

Thank you @oshizu!

I believe Agnes is "one of those" - she seems to win every fight, no matter how high her opponent's fitness is. Although . . . I thought I saw something about Greg (the werewolf) beating her up. But I tried searching and can't find it, so maybe I'm wrong about that.

[oshizu]

Thank you @oshizu!

I believe Agnes is "one of those" - she seems to win every fight, no matter how high her opponent's fitness is. Although . . . I thought I saw something about Greg (the werewolf) beating her up. But I tried searching and can't find it, so maybe I'm wrong about that.

I'm not sure if Greg can beat Agnes up (I don't have that pack yet).
But I saw a hilarious video by Dr. Gluon in which, after failing to get Vlad to convince Greg to woohoo, succeeded in Agnes persuading Greg to woohoo.
It was hilarious.  When the vid ended, Agnes was standing in front of her tent with the Very Uncomfortable moodlet.
I guess she can't die of overexertion either? lol

[GlazeyLady]

Mari: You might have noticed by now that Watcher has a tendency to just disappear for days . . . weeks . . . even months. And when she finally comes back, we’re always behind in the story, and so we try to catch you up as quickly as we can so we can get on with living our lives. Well, here we are again. So this is going to be a Generation-in-a-Chapter. We’ll be moving quickly, so pay attention.

Noah: “Take that, Shellboy!”
Nick: “Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!”


Noah: “I win again!”
Nick: “Yeah, well maybe that’s because you play all the time and Watcher levels up your Voidcritters for you!”
Noah: “Aawww, don’t be a sore loser Nick. You know winning doesn’t matter as much to you as it does to me.”
Nick (laughing): “No, it really doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean I’m ever going to let you beat me at chess.”
Noah: "That's okay. I'm sure I can beat Mom. She can't be that tough."


Nick: I’d much rather make fireworks and smoke than play Voidcritters any day!


Noah: “OHHHHHH! I’m giving up on Chess! I can’t even beat Mom!”


Nate: “I never had time for games. I had to get ALL the scout badges!”


Nate: “And ALL the aspirations!”


Nate: “And ALL the positive character traits! I’m pretty sure I was the busiest kid ever in the history of kids!”


Nick: “That’s 4 wins for me and only 1 win for you, Mr. Leg-en-dar-y Ga-mer! Maybe you should stick to Voidcritters!”
Noah: “Or chess . . . when it's against Aunt Maci!
Nick (laughing): “Dude! She is SO bad at chess!”
Noah: “Don’t I know it! I beat her 4 times yesterday and she was still calling her pawns rooks. She didn’t even know the pieces.”
Nick: “Did you tell they were pawns?”
Noah: “Heck no, man. I needed the win. I figured the less she knew, the better for me.”


Nate: “Still no play for me!  As soon as I became a teen, I had to get a job. I even had to skip Prom because it was on a work night. Not that I had anyone to go with anyway. Who has time for a social life?”


Nate: “At least I got to work on skills I enjoyed.”


Noah: “I thought having the Legendary Gamer Big Dream was amazing as a kid, but it was even better as a teen! I never had to worry about grades or school projects or work or any of that stuff that kept Nate so busy. I just played. All the time. Day and night. And I was good, too. At almost everything. No one could touch me at ping pong.”


Noah: “I was ON FIRE at bowling!”


Noah: “Darts was a little tougher for me, but I was determined to come out with a win.”


Nick: “Noah had his gaming, and Nate had, well, a whole buncha’ stuff, but all I had to do as a teen was get an A and be Responsible. Easy-Peasy. And it left me time for something important that they didn’t have time for . . . GIRLS! Well, one girl in particular . . . Trisha Feldman! I first laid eyes on her at Karaoke, and man, I knew she was the one for me."


Nick: “When it was my turn to sing, I crooned out a ballad about love at first sight. I tried not to look at her too much, but I’m pretty sure she never took her eyes off me. After my song, I worked up the nerve to introduce myself. I really wanted to flirt with her and see how she took it, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even ask her if she had a boyfriend!”


Nick: “I knew just what I had to do! I excused myself and made a mad dash for home! Thankfully, mom always has a cake ready in the fridge. I knew she wouldn’t be happy about missing my birthday, and that Noah would be ticked off that I didn't wait for him, but I wasn’t missing my chance with Trisha Feldman! I raced back to the Karaoke Bar, but she’d already left. So, I traveled home and chose to take her with me. It’s so cool how I can do that.”


Nick: “I found out she didn’t have a boyfriend, and we just hit it off right from the beginning. I could tell she was into me.”


Nick: “So I took a chance and blew her a kiss.”


Nick: “We played some Ping Pong and flirted until she said she had to go, so I walked her out.”


Nick: “She told me she had a really nice time, so I made my move. I think I surprised her, but she kissed me back, so I went all in and popped the question.”


Nick: “And just like that, she was my girlfriend!”

Mari: Well, I guess I should have known that once Nick got to talking about Trisha, we’d run out of time before we could get to the point when all the boys had moved out. So for now, I’ll just say that Nick was the first to find love, but the other boys weren’t far behind. And they all made great choices, so I guess Cam and I did some things right. Come back next time for girlfriends, weddings, and . . . dare I say it . . . grandchildren!”

[oshizu]

What a great update!
All three boys are so different in personality and voice!
Haha, poor Nate who always has to do ALL of everything. Will he be a super sim?
And I like how you bookended the update with a comment by their mother, Maci.

Can't wait to read more about the Cordovas, Watcher!

[GlazeyLady]

What a great update!
All three boys are so different in personality and voice!
Haha, poor Nate who always has to do ALL of everything. Will he be a super sim?
And I like how you bookended the update with a comment by their mother, Maci.

Can't wait to read more about the Cordovas, Watcher!

Thank you!
This generation was really only intended to have 2 kids, but . . . you know . . . the game surprises us all sometimes. Nate's the focused achiever, Noah's the fun-loving "Life is a Game" one, and Nick is the calm, balanced one who doesn't get too excited about anything . . . until he meets Trisha, of course.

Yes, Nate is the Super Sim. I mostly picked that for him because I knew I'd have a lot of sim-time between his birth and the beginning of the next pregnancy, so he'd have time to do all the many requirements. He was born in the HoB household, and there was only room for Mari and Cam to have one child there, but I still needed to finish Mason's and Shelley's Big Dreams before Mari, Cam and Nate could move out.  He was still the last to finish and leave home, as you'll see in the next chapter, even though I kept him working, working, working on his requirements pretty much non-stop.

Thank you for reading and posting your comments! It's so nice to know you're enjoying the story. Especially given my start - stop - start - stop - start way of playing/writing it!

[Rhoxi]

It's so nice to see a new update from this story! Huzzah for more Cordova's! All of the boys are just dandy - and each so different.