The Smith Family: Week 1

A number of Sims in my game have the surname Smith, and several of them live in Strangetown. Now it is time to visit THE Smith family, living here at 101 Road to Nowhere. Maxis have provided us with a set of premade pictures for them as well as this family biography: "After a fruitful career, Pollination Technician 9 has retired to his favorite planet. But can his son Johnny make friends and fit in, or is this family just too strange for Strangetown?" 

Let's take a look at their history:

Jenny stands in the corner by the pool and watches Pollination Tech#9 entering the water with a perfect dive. According to the Sims2 wiki, this is supposed to be the first time she sets eyes on him. That may be true, but probably not the other way round; Polli has ties to Jenny's family that go back to his days working as a Pollination Technician: He is the one who planted the Alien twin daughters into Jenny's father, Glarn Curious. 

Those twin daughters - Chloe and Lola - didn't grow up with Glarn, Kitty, Jenny and her brothers Pascal, Vidcund and Lazlo, but they appear in the family tree alright. 

On their wedding day, Jenny and Polli couldn't have been happier, as is obvious from the look on Jenny's face.

Their happiness received another big boost when little Johnny was born, showing his father's green skin but his mother's human nose and eyes. 

Their daughter Jill is born several years later, and her appearance is entirely human. Both husband and wife are Family Sims, but while Polli's lifetime want is to raise 20 puppies or kittens (he has probably done his bit in raising human children), Jenny dreams of celebrating their Golden Anniversary, which is hopefully going to happen before her husband, older by several years, dies. 

According to Maxis, "The only thing PT9 loves more than his lawn is his family. When he is not spending time with his children, he enjoys clipping coupons and staring up at the sky." Jenny "loves having a career, but she wishes she could spend more time with her family, and maybe make some new friends. She really likes green." Her career consists in working as a nurse, and hers is the only income for the family. 

Still, they are not badly off; the house and lot have some value, and they have over 6,000 Simoleons in cash. 

Johnny dreams of being the hero that rides in on a white horse, or at least a cool sports car - according to Maxis. He has also probably been dreaming of kissing his girlfriend Ophelia Nigmos; the two were going steady until Ophelia, a little older than him, left for college.

"When Jill closes her eyes, she sees dolphins. She has her heart set on becoming a deep sea welder someday." Well, Maxis have written a bio for the girl that is impossible: The job of deep sea welder does not exist in the game. Johnny's aspiration is Popularity, and fittingly, he wants to have 20 best friends. His little sister is still five days away from growing up into a teen and has neither aspiration nor lifetime want. 

The house is unremarkable and completely, if modestly, furnished. 

The front porch opens directly into the open plan hallway with staircase, living and dining area. Clockwise to the bottom left of that area is a toilet. A cosy den with a fireplace and chess table follows. From the dining area, the deck leading to the back garden can be reached. To the right of the dining area is the kitchen. The rest of the ground floor is taken up by the master bedroom with an en-suite bathroom and a small square room, which is empty at the moment.

Upstairs is another bathroom. Two bedrooms to the left of the staircase are empty, while the two on the right are very obviously Jill's and Johhny's. There is a swimming pool in the back garden as well as a grill, and loungers by the pool. All in all, it is the kind of house many would regard as a typical American family home, and that is exactly what Polli wanted for his human family. 

It is mid-morning on a Sunday when the game starts here, and everything is ready for Johnny's birthday party. However, he wants to go to college, and college it shall be! He can still have a party, just not a birthday party, of course - blowing out the candles on the cake would age him up instantly with no chance at college. 

Johnny doesn't know many Sims, and so he invites everyone he knows: Ophelia (of course!), his half-sisters Chloe and Lola as well as the older two Grunt brothers, Ripp and Tank (not pictured).

He and Ophelia hug and are best friends as before, but of course no romantic interaction is possible due to their age difference. 

The family and their guests enjoy Polli's hot dogs, and Jenny reminisces of how it seems like only yesterday that Johnny was a toddler who loved to play with his toys. 

The party ends, and after everyone has left, Johnny makes that all-important phone call and moves to college, where we will catch up with him soon.

The day is not over yet, and Jenny's brother Pascal invites the three remaining Smiths to Red's Famous 50's Diner.

A Vampire contessa appears, but nobody gives much notice. 

Jenny sits with her brother and General Lee (formerly Grunt), while the others in the group share a different table.

Just before they leave, Polli meets Matthew Smith, a "relative". 

Back home, Jill goes to bed straight away, while Polli initiates the first step towards his lifetime want: Suzi, a little puppy, is adopted.

The small empty room off Jenny and Polli's bedroom is turned into a puppy nursery, and little Suzi attacks her food bowl with great enthusiasm.

Only one pet per day can be adopted, it seems, and so the family have to wait until Tuesday before a black male puppy named Jake joins the household - hopefully, he and Suzi will be the founders of a dynasty of dogs, all for Polli's lifetime want. 

It's a really great day for Jill: Not only does she bring an A+ home with her, there is also a new puppy to meet and cuddle! That way, she misses her big brother not quite so much. 

It is Tuesday morning, and as Jenny heads off to the early shift at the hospital, she can't help but think how nice another baby would have been, now that her oldest has flown the nest and her baby girl is fast approaching her teenage years. It is too late for that, however, and of course the house will be lively enough with the puppies!

Speaking of which, Polli has plenty to do when his wife is out for work and his daughter at school. The puppies need to be encouraged to use their pet beds, eat pet food, be friendly and playful instead of hostile and aggressive, and of course there is the all-important equivalent to potty training. In between, he manages to make one or two phone calls, pay today's bills and do the crossword.

Funnily enough, although he joined the family later, Jake grows up first. He is still a small dog, even as an adult, but he looks well proportioned and has tight curly fur like a poodle. 

Upstairs, Jill has moved into her big brother's former room; it is slightly larger than hers, contains a desk for her homework and has a door directly to the bathroom. Her dolls house fits nicely into the dormer niche.

Jake receives his very first bath on Wednesday morning. He behaves well, and Polli can praise him. 

When he is out trimming a few rose bushes, a lady walks by and is of course politely greeted. Polli is happy to learn that the woman's name is Jill Smith - just like his daughter! She has just recently moved to a place just down the road, too.

Speaking of which, Jill gets off the school bus with a classmate in tow, whose name is Aaron Riley. That's great - Jill is going to befriend him and, by the time she is old enough to go to college, he can go, too, and become playable.

Meanwhile, Jenny has an animated conversation on the porch with the adult Jill, enjoying the atumn afternoon light now that she's back from another morning shift at the hospital. 

Jill stays for dinner, and the day ends with two Jill Smiths at the same table :-) 

On Thursday morning, Jake and Suzi interact for the first time - up until now, one of them has always either been asleep or otherwise busy. They need to become friends, because eventually, they are supposed to help their master with his lifetime want of raising 20 puppies (or kittens, although they certainly won't be able to help with that!). 

Jenny has the day off and celebrates by producing a platter of omelettes for breakfast... slightly browner than intended. But served with such a radiant smile, I guess nobody will have the heart NOT to eat them. 

As she loves green (we know that from her biography, and it is mirrored in her wardrobe), of course she doesn't mind using her green watering can on the daisies that grow along the fence.

That afternoon, we see Jill doing her homework for the last time as a child. 

At 6:00 pm, she grows up into a teenager. My dice lands on 5, meaning her aspiration is Family - and although usually it takes until the next day for new teens to show a lifetime want, hers is already there: She wants to graduate three children from college. Maybe her friend from school, Aaron Riley, will be able to help... but it is early days yet, of course.

Jenny should have turned into an elder at the same time as her daughter became a teenager, but it is only on Friday morning that she grows up, just as her car pool arrives. Now she will be able to fulfill her lifetime want and can plan her Golden Anniversary party. 

Meanwhile, Suzi is now an adult dog, too. That's two down, and 18 more to go for Polli!

Jill's room (actually Johnny's old room) gets a different look. I wouldn't want it, but Jill loves pink, and pink it certainly is. Her old dolls house remains. 

When Jenny returns from work, I am a bit disappointed to discover that her wardrobe now contains no green items. Jill could do with a few more outfits, too.

And so mother and daughter walk to Amelia's Closet, where they end up spending well over 1,000 Simoleons on outfits - but it is Jenny after all who earns the money, and she can spend it as she sees fit. 

Jenny is up early on Saturday morning, so early that she has time to read a little before her morning shift at the hospital.

By the time Jill gets up, the snow that had started to fall a few hours before was settling nicely, much to Jill's astonishment. She is glad that her Mum bought her warm winter clothes! 

Early afternoon, she invites her friend and classmate Aaron Riley over. One of her big wishes has been to have her first kiss, and you won't be surprised to learn that Aaron was the happy other part of that kiss :-)

The week with the Smiths ends on a good note, and finally, the now adult dogs play with each other. 

Jake and Suzie are still not friends, but I hope they'll get to the point where Polli can persuade them to have puppies - it is doubtful that he'll live long enough to see his lifetime want come true, but at 62, he has some time left. 

Stupidly, I forgot all about Jenny's wish to celebrate her Golden Anniversary with Polli; it would have been so easy! But somehow Jill's budding romance with Aaron kept distracting me, as did the dogs. 

Next up will be the adult Jill Smith, and then we'll check on Johnny at La Fiesta Tech.