The Journal of Phillip Grant - March 8

Vanessa and I decided to have the morning out. The kids were in school, the butler was busy cleaning the house, and we needed some fresh air for a change. We went to the park near where Vanessa grew up, the Landgraab estate.

Vanessa indulged in her favourite hobby fishing. It can be hard sometimes to stir her out of the house, she is such a couch potato.  Once she gets near water, the fishing bug can hit her hard.

Me? Well, I never did finish this tunnel over here.


Didn't find anything particularly interesting, I did dig up a cheap microwave. Honestly, can't people take their rubbish to the dump any more?

After fishing in the hot sun for most of the morning, Vanessa went to the local pub and found our oldest indulging in a drink.  They had a drink and a nice chat together.

Also my nephew Jerod was there, but you have to expect the local party boy to be found at the local pub fairly regularly.

Stephen was up to his own form of entertainment. He best be on good behaviour if he insists on hitting on his girl that close to the front door.

Brad must be getting used to the boy hanging out. Doesn't seem to worry him at all to find Stephen there, again.

Well, that's one way to deal with it. They are an official couple now.

That's a sight to warm any parent's heart. They all just decided to get the homework out of the way.

Brad's not the only dad around who has to get used to a visitor. His boy and Penny are best friends and they are always visiting one house or the other.

I joined the kids in the video game this time. I can see why they like it. Damn Stephen has lightning reflexes.  Maybe I'm slowing down a bit? Nah, he just has more practice at games.

Night night, my little angels. Tomorrow is the big party for your birthdays.

Honey, are you sure we can't stop this?

No dear, you can't stop the girls from growing up.

But they'll be teens. There may be boys.

Dear, you could hardly wait for the boys to find love. What's so different about your daughters?

It has to be a special boy to be worthy of dating our girls.

Dear, if you can't behave, I'm going to have to lock you in our room till the girls grow up and leave home. In your caveman outfit, because you are acting just like one.

Sigh, a man could hope to stop time.

I was digging through the family attic when I ran across the martial arts training equipment. When the hell did I buy this stuff anyway? Been a few years since we've been to China.

I set them up and Stephen and I had a practice session. I was rusty, even breaking foam boards took me far too long. Stephen was playing pattycake with the training dummy, too timid to try for a proper hit. He'll learn if he keeps practicing.

While I made arrangements for the girl's birthday bash, they decided to play some chess.

Ronnie is the family genius but Penny isn't half bad at the game. A bit more practice and they may start having draws more often then one winner.

It's nearly time for the party to start. I decided to give my girls a big hug each before the party. My dear little Penny.

And my sweet little Ronnie.

Stephen decided to try his hand at mixing drinks.

Hey Dad?

Yes Stephen?

Can we talk after the party? I have two favours I want to ask about.

Sure boy, we can talk. Why not now?

The party is about to start. I don't want to be interrupted. And your complete attention.

The party had our usual mix of friends, relatives and party crashers. I don't remember the last time I threw a party that didn't have at least one gate crasher.

Veronica blows out her candles first.

Ronnie is a teen. And does she ever take after her mum.

Then it was Penny's turn. She's growing up to be a real beauty.

Maybe being the dad of teenage girls won't be so bad?

Eh, who am I kidding? I want them to stay my little girls forever, and it's just not going to happen. The house is going to overflow with hormones once the boys notice my girls.

--------
The bonus pics

Phillip and Vanessa still adore each other. Fortunately for me, they prefer just plain woohoo, they could be picky Risky Woohoo and that's not a safe option for another few days. Watching them together is so sweet.

Dustin and Charles Grant - the sons of Tate Grant.

Veronica's idea of a nice formal outfit. Sims and style sense - ain't never gonna happen, is it? You can tell that she looks stunningly like her mother.

Awkward much? Penny grew up into the same formal outfit that Abbey was already wearing.

 Closeup of Veronica Grant as a teen.

 Close up of Penelope Grant.

To the left Elsa Grant. She and husband Jerod Grant (aka Shrimp) have just taken in her little sister Erica - their mom Christi Clayton-Leman s on the daily 'death from age' list.

To the right Ginger Kane (nee Hatch), new bride of Travis Kane. Yep, another game and another time when Travis jumped almost immediately into marriage. I have two theories about it. One is that Travis is trying to prove that any infidelities on his part are because Kaleeko made him do it over in the DS blog. The other is that he wants to be on my 'breeder' list and not my 'Sim Toy' list. Breeder == dropped into a hood and expected to produce 1 to 3 children. Toy list == who knows what might happen - his dad would definitely recommend staying *off* that list. So far, that list has resulted in one very unexpected lover, one untimely painful death and harassment by the local police for Jeb. Jeb is permanently marked as toy, Brad is permanently off the toy list. Amelia and Travis - well Travis is nearly off the toy list.

Ginger has Grant hair colour. I don't remember the Hatch family as having that colour, though I made them so long ago I've forgotten when. I think that the game just used that from my hair colours in game. I did double check her ancestry to make sure no Grants had snuck in. :)