Chariot

Round 14: Summer 2022


Sam Cooper is 44, Grace is 39, Ross and Madelyn are 11 and James is 6.
(Kurt is 66, Tina is 34 and Tim is 1.)

Narrated by Grace Cooper

Our kids are not so little anymore. The twins are independent enough to get themselves and James breakfast after Sam and I have gone to work. In the beginning of their summer holiday I tried waking them up before I left for work but they kept whining about having to get up so early. Now I just let them sleep.

We still have the nanny come over for a few hours every day. I'm not comfortable with the idea of those three spending all day by themselves. Ross and Madelyn are starting high school next year and then they'll get to babysit James after school.

Madelyn already has her future planned. She wants to become either a doctor or a veterinarian. I think at the moment being a vet is more appealing to her. We barely get to stroke Oscar because she's always taking him out for a walk or teaching him new tricks. She even cleans his bed when it's dirty.

Ross on the other hand is quite content just playing cops and robbers with James in our tiny yard. Madelyn finds them - and all boys in general - extremely childish but I keep telling her that boys mature a little bit slower than girls and she'll feel differently in a few years. I've heard Ross talk about girls over the phone with his friends and that's a clear sign he's not such a little boy anymore. Not to mention how tall he's already gotten!

We still have our baby, James, who runs over to hug us when we come home from work. He makes it easier to get over the fact that I'm soon going to be a mother of two teenagers. I'm probably going to spoil him rotten over the next few years.

Sam and I don't get to spend as much time together as we'd like but we try to make every little moment count. Now we've made a deal that at least one night of the week is for each other. We clear our schedules of everything else and just spend some quality time together. So far it's been really great.

I took a couple of days off work and took the kids to the public pool that's on a walking distance from our house. The weather was warm but not too hot and it was really nice to just sit by the pool and relax.

All our kids can swim really well and the pool also has a life guard so I decided to take a dip in the pool as well. James and Madelyn preferred the kiddie pool with the water slide but Ross insisted on swimming in the bigger pool.

Madelyn got bored with swimming quite soon and went inside to the restaurant. They have a huge aquarium there and she loves to look at all the different tropical fish. She could sit there for hours.

We had lunch on the terrace. All that swimming had tired the kids so they were on their best behaviour.

We didn't have any trouble getting the kids to bed in time that night. And then it was back to real life. I'm working on a bunch of articles for a medical magazine for extra money. It'll also look really good on my resumé when I apply for a promotion. Sam's constantly working out. He's the highest rank in his base and he wants to set a good example to the young recruits.

We're trying to see more of dad and Tina because I don't want them to feel left out. I know Jack still finds it really hard to accept the fact that dad's wife is younger than us but that's how it is and there's nothing we can do about it.

Besides, I really like her. She's not some gold digger who has her claws on an older man. She genuinely loves dad and that makes me like her even more. She has her office in the hospital and we often have lunch together.

Timmy is just a gorgeous little boy. Of course it feels weird to have a brother who's younger than my own kids but how could I not love him. I think he's a great addition to our family and I hope Jack comes around soon.

Notes:

• Title reference: Chariot by Gavin DeGraw.
• This is Ross and Madelyn's last update as children! I'm trying to pay closer attention to the older kids in regards of their wants and interests so that it would be easier to decide their aspirations. I love it when the sims tell me what their aspiration should be. Madelyn is obviously a Knowledge sim while Ross will probably be Popularity.
• The pool is a new lot that I built specifically for this update. I needed a public pool and also wanted to test out the aquarium stuff for a future oceanography career lot. Tour of the lot is coming soon-ish, I just need a name for it first (it's currently called "The Pool").
• I totally forgot to mention in my last update that Frieda rolled the night out bowling with 3 friends ROS. I've fixed it now :)