The Five Units Challenge - Report 20 - Fiona's Cat

But, no!!! Little August grew up to a toddler, and while his hair is black, his eyes are brown - not green. He sure is a charmer, and he would make for a good runner up. But Donna and Gerald should go for a second try. Sorry Donna, you might need to fill the house with more kids!

I never keep babies until they grow up by game, instead I'll age them up after 1 day. Then I'll keep a toddler for 4 days, until growing into a child and starting school. I find toddlers very cute, but it easily gets chaotic when all household members rush to the toddler to do stuff that might even interrupt with whatever some other sim is currently doing. So, toddlers are challenging not so much because of themselves needing attention, but because of parents, teen siblings or grandparent rushing to assist them by free will. The programming for this seems so wrong compared to previous sims series - a sim should not rush to a toddler who is already being helped by someone else. I just had to mention this... :)

At least Sylvia adored her new grandchild. August was her 3rd grandchild, because both Rudolph and Sammy got kids downtown. Rudolph got daughters Sybil and Carolina, while Sammy got daughter Sabrina.

The Five Units Challenge - Report 19 - Donna's Wedding

The day of the wedding was here! Donna wanted a formal arrangement, and so did her mom, Sylvia. I'm not really sure what Gerald, the groom, wanted.

The essentials were bought and placed in the garden. For a second I thought that one of the 5 garden units could actually be a permanent wedding plot, but no - there's no skill involved. Those units must be dedicated to skills, it's part of this challenge, after all.

The Five Units Challenge - Report 18 - Donna's Engagement

Pregnancy tests are exciting, especially when they announce that your sim is eating for two! Donna was proven pregnant, and in a way she was relieved, because it meant she was now on the ball, one step closer to having a baby with black hair and green eyes!

Of course, her main heir won't need to fit the bill 100%, but bringing on the right genes will make it a lot easier for the next generation.

The Five Units Challenge - Report 17 - Donna dating

Donna spent hours on painting, almost daily she painted various motives and tried to learn new techniques. She needs to max out her painting skill, just like dad Abraham did.

But Abraham worried a bit.

The Five Units Challenge - Report 16 - Donna Grows Up

Sorry for the long break - but now this story is back on track with many future updates already well prepared. Today is Donna's young adult birthday, and finally the next generation can get some focus!

Donna is 1st generation after the founders Sylvia and Abraham Clump, who already filled the first 2 garden units. Donna will fill the 3rd, and her main heir and main heir's child will complete those remaining 2 units.

Cats and dogs moving in!

(TS4 - EP Cats & Dogs) I'm really enjoying this expansion pack. The pets come with a much better individual approach than in previous versions, I find their personality is a lot more diverse. They are charming, too, and a great assets to most families.

I'm not really into RL pets enough to gasp over all those breeds that are available. To me it would be just fine to have five generic versions to choose from. I'll never make use of all those detailed breeds on offer, and never did in previous series, but other simmers will enjoy the rich library, of course.

Also, there was introduced a new sim count meaning there is now a limitation to how many sims your game can handle. It's a rather generous limit though, but you obviously is not meant to fill up all your worlds and homes with families, like I do. You would reach your limit rather quickly. My game is the kind of played families on most residential lots in all worlds, and I like them to spread and mix, building family trees over the generations. Families I played the week TS4 was released are still in my game. So, it would be a headache needing to get rid of a single soul. Luckily I can go on with my strategy, but I can't add many more, and it means only a few families can have pets because they count as sims in this manner. Fair enough.

In my Gloomville (aka Willow Creek) the Crumpleton family has resided Uptown for ages. This family more or less founded Gloomville, and they built themselves a fortune. They have two Siamese cats, Bart and Lucia.

Touring Brindleton Bay, Whiskerman's Wharf

(The Sims 4, EP Cats & Dogs) When getting access to a new world, I love wandering about exploring all those small nooks and streets, finding those hidden views and trying to figure the location's history. In 4 parts I'll show you my Brindleton Bay favorites.

Let's start with the Whiskerman's Wharf district, nice area packed with great dockside atmosphere alongside those small, cozy streets climbing into the hills. What's this place's history, and what might the locals be like?

Taking a step back, I'm surprised to see how crowded Brindleton Bay actually is. On both sides of the waters you will find tight groups of small residential houses. It's a lush area, still with plenty of industry, old and new.