New Possibilities

January 2027

Chris, Aaron and Mari Green are 48; Riley and Joel are 15; Marina and Jody are 8.
Christine is 18; Anna is 14 ; Jessica is one.

Previous update here



So, it was 2027.

The beginning of a new year was Riley's favourite time - it was like a new start, full of possibilities.

For her dad, it would mean the start of a new job, as headmaster of the city high school.

He'd never really enjoyed working at the university, so Riley was glad he'd found something that would make him happier. And she was especially glad it wasn't at her school.

Her mother was thinking of going back to work, too.

She'd been in the police force years ago, before Riley and her siblings were born. Now she was looking into picking up her career again.

Riley's New Year's resolution was to try to get on better with her brother. She was actually already trying, but Joel didn't make it easy.

She'd kind-of forgiven him for stealing her best friend.

Well, not really stealing... Maggie was still Riley's friend, but she was Joel's girlfriend too.

Riley was mostly ok with it now, except when they got too smoochy...

although Joel probably couldn't help it, they came from a smoochy family.

She was trying, anyway, and there were a lot worse things that could happen between twins. Like Dad and Uncle Chris, who was married to Dad's ex-girlfriend. Dad and Aunt Marsha even had a daughter together, and if Riley found it all confusing, she couldn't imagine what it must be like for poor April, who's mother was also her aunt. Or something. Riley tried not to think about it too much.

Anyway, the point was, Dad and Uncle Chris got on really well now.

Dad said that all the stuff with Aunt Marsha happened a long time ago and it didn't matter any more. Maybe some day it wouldn't matter to Riley that Joel and Maggie didn't want her around half the time, but it mattered now.

For now, though, Joel and Maggie were off on a date somewhere, and Riley was at home practising for her future role as crazy cat lady.

They went away for Christmas this year. It was the first Christmas without Grandad, and Riley's Dad decided he wanted to do something different, Uncle Randy, Mum's brother, owned a cabin at three lakes, and he let them stay there over the holidays.

Riley really hadn't wanted to stay in some little cabin in the middle of nowhere...

until she saw the place.

She'd kind of forgotten that Uncle Randy had heaps of money. Of course he'd have more than just a log cabin or something.

Not everyone enjoyed being there, though - At first, Jody spent most of her time in front of the tv.

They almost had to drag her away, when they went out the first afternoon.  They found a cosy cafe with views of the mountains.

Riley and her siblings had their own table for dinner...

... while their parents started to get smoochy again...

After dinner, Riley and Joel tried to learn the local dance moves.

Even Marina joined in, with a little help from Dad...

... but not Jody - instead, she found video games to play!

There were other, more traditional games at the cafe

...although some of their attempts to play were less than successful.



As evening came a band started to play, and then things really started to liven up.

There was a lot more to do in the mountains than Riley had expected, and the rest of the trip just flew by...

---

Not long after they got back to Richmond, they went to visit Uncle Chris's family, in Redwood City. They had three daughters - the eldest, Christine, had just started college and had moved to a dorm on the other side of the city, She came back home to visit a lot, though.

Aunt Marsha said that sometimes it felt like Christine had never left.

Anna was a little younger than Riley, but they were still good friends.

Jessica, the youngest, was adorable.

---

Joel didn't think so, though. He'd gotten bored and gone off outside somewhere. A little later, Riley  heard him talking to someone in the hall.

"This is George," Joel said. "He lives a couple of houses away..."

"Uh... hi... "

Maybe Riley wasn't going to end up a crazy cat lady after all. Maybe she might even forgive Joel for stealing her best friend.

After all, it was a new year, a time for a new start, full of possibilities...

---

It was fun just playing the vacation and taking random screen shots of what was happening - planning and posing can be fun too, but sometimes the best pictures are just sims doing sim stuff :)

Riley has been longing for her first kiss and I had her scoping the room everywhere she went on vacation, to no avail. Then Joel met George as a walk-by at their aunt and uncle's house and he followed him inside. Two-bolt love at first sight!

George is playable and his parents are a couple who haven't appeared on my blog, although you have met some of their family. I wasn't really planning to include them but, now that he's made an appearance here (and probably won't be far from Riley in future updates), they may get an update after all.

Next (and already half-finished) = back to Cherry and family...