The Gavigan Family: Week 4

Is it really week 4 with them, not week 5? I must admit I am a bit confused, but since their previous post says "week 3", this one must be 4. Oh, never mind, just let's get on with it!

The Gavigans have not changed anything about their living arrangements since we last saw them. They still live in the same house, and the home business is still up and running: Sims who are willing to pay an admission fee of 13 Simoleons can spend time at "Gavigan's Game", practising axe-throwing, having water balloon fights on the lawn behind the house, play kicky-bag or generally just interact with each other.

Nathan and Mary have recently attended their son's wedding. Isaiah has married into the Capp family. Nathan still wants to own 5 top level businesses; so far, only his home business has reached rank 10. Mary dreams of 6 grandchildren. She has one grandson, Caleb, from Isaiah and Ariel.

The Gavigan twins are not old enough yet to go to college and will still be with their Mom & Dad all week. This is Gerlinde, who strangely enough wishes to be a First Class Ballet Dancer although the family have never owned a stereo and, to my knowledge, she has never been dancing in her life.

Her twin sister Gesine is, in my opinion, one of the prettiest Sims in New Maximiliania. Her ambition is to become Space Pirate, but for now, she focuses on doing her homework and helping her parents with their businesses.
     

Helping their Dad means that Gesine spends her spare time working at the easel, producing one still life after the other, to be sold in "Gavigan's Gallery", the business Nathan is currently working at. Gerlinde busily sews away for the project her father has in mind for his next business: "Gavigan's Garments".
       

This is "Gavigan's Gallery" (originally the Van Dough gallery), where the taxi drops off Mary and Nathan on Monday morning after the girls have left for school.
       

The gallery reaches rank 3 today. Still a long way to go!
       

Lunch at work usually means for Nathan and Mary that they take turns in grabbing a hot dog in the back garden. What they don't eat themselves is for their customers.
     

Back home, Mary is very tired after her day behind the counter, but still sits with Gesine for something to eat, while Gerlinde is on the phone to a class mate, talking about a maths problem.
      

Later that evening, both Mary and Nathan turn into Elders.
       

It is Tuesday morning, and Nathan cleans the kitchen before he and Mary will head off to the gallery again. You can tell what is very much on the couple's mind :-) (They really roll wants about woohoo all week.)
      

As their taxi pulls up to the gallery, Nathan and Mary hope that the thick layer of snow won't mean less business coming their way today.
      

In fact, business is brisk, and the gallery reaches rank 4.
      

Mary makes her Bronze Badge at the cash register today.
      

On Wednesday, it is Nathan's turn to earn a badge: He now has Bronze for restocking. And the gallery reaches rank 5!
       

Mary hopes to avoid negative consequences of an evil witch's visit to the lot by greeting her with her most friendly smile.
      

 Back home, the girls leave for school in their winter gear.
       

After their morning shift at the gallery, Nathan and Mary need to attend to some things at home, such as trimming the hedge and mopping up puddles caused by one of their customers who either could not leave "Gavigan's Game" in time to use their own bathroom at home (customers have no access to the Gavigan's house) or by one customer pulling a prank on another.
       

The Tuesday bills have not been paid yet, and Mary sees to them now.
       

When they return to the gallery for their afternoon shift, Mary discovers that the evil witch was not stopped from summoning bugs in spite of her friendly greeting.
       

While Gerlinde makes her Silver Sewing Badge...
     

...Gavigan's Gallery gets a good review by this reporter. Actually, it is already Thursday morning when this happens.
       

It did not take Mary long from her Bronze Cash Register Badge to get her Silver one! Today is also the day that sees the gallery on rank 6. The young man here is Isaiah, Mary's and Nathan's son who recently married Ariel Capp and lives with her, her family and their little son Caleb at the Capps' new house. The lady being served is Jessica Peterson, who has had a makeover by Charlie Cho, the son of Etsu Cho and Hal Capp.
       

On Friday morning, the girls are already on their own by the time they wake up. Instead of having healthy cereals for breakfast, they choose last night's leftover spaghetti.
       

Nathan now has a Silver Badge for restocking. A little later, he (who rarely works behind the counter) finally gains his Bronze Cash Register badge, and the gallery reaches rank 7.
       

Many customers have been engaging in butterfly-catching in the Gavigans' back yard; I cound four jars, and unfortunately, only the butterflies in the jar to the far right are still alive. I really wish Sims would not insist on doing that!
       

When the gallery closes for the night, Mary and Nathan make sure everything is spic and span for the next day before they leave. Unfortunately, the repair service can not be called on a business lot, so they have to take care of everything themselves (unless they manage to influence a customer to do a bit of gardening or cleaning for them).
      

Friday night, their parents make sure the girls sit down with them for a wholesome, home-cooked meal.
      

By now, the Gavigans have made enough money with both the gallery and the home business that they can afford some better furniture than the cheap IKEA stuff they started out with. A luxurious new dining table and chairs are purchased on Saturday morning, and the bathroom is spruced up with a better toilet, sink, mirror and wall light.
       

During their morning shift, Nathan and Mary manage to get the gallery to rank 8, and they close the shop for the rest of the day soon afterwards. At home, they ask the girls to don their pretty formal dresses.
      

To celebrate a successful week with the gallery and reward their daughters for their efforts at school and at home, they take a taxi to the Oresha Family Dining. I know I must have played on this Maxis-made community lot before, but it is so long ago I can't remember what it looks like.
    

It is not exactly a posh restaurant, and maybe the Gavigans are a little overdressed here, but never mind - they feel like celebrating today.
      

And celebrate they do!
       

Isaiah was asked to join them, too (as well as his wife Ariel, but she decided to stay home with the baby), and he gladly gets into the family spirit when they all play Mishuno together.
       

It is Sunday morning, and Mary and Nathan wake up under the pictures their children took yesterday at the Oresha. The twins took turns to get into the photo booth with their older brother, and then the twins took one of their own, which is now on the wall in their room.
       

Sunday does not mean a day of rest for the elderly Gavigans. Today, they serve chips and dips for their customers and snack on that themselves. Sandra Roth and Castor Nova are the first to join them in the back garden.
       

The evil witch has come back, and this time it is Nathan who takes care of the bugs, while Mary keeps ringing up customers' purchases.
       

Jill Indie (nee Smith, married to Mitch Indie) seems to think the gallery owner is quite an attractive man :-)

Nathan and Mary are both 60 now. Their second business is currently on rank 8; the last two are the most difficult to reach, and I must admit I do have my doubts that Nathan will live long enough to see three more business reach top level. He will certainly try, though!
I have not yet decided whether to send the twins to college or not. They will be most useful at home, but it seems a bit unfair to leave them there just to produce stock for Nathan's next business; their older brother was allowed to go to college, so they should have the chance, too.

It took twice as long to play this week than with other households, because of the additional time spent at the gallery, but I had fun playing there for a change, and gave all the other inhabitants of New Maximiliania the opportunity to interact with each other and form new friendships.