Good old days

Round 17: August 2027

Deacon Burrows is 62, Stella Harris is 63, Minka is 9 and Nick is 7.

Narrated by Stella.

I've seriously cut down the amount of work I do. When I was younger I used to have projects lined up for months and months but now I'm very picky - especially when it comes to spending time away from home. What's even more wonderful is that finally Deacon feels the same way. We used to be so career-oriented that sometimes it feels strange to hang around the house during the day doing absolutely nothing.

We bought a vacation home sometime ago in Kalaupapa Island but we haven't had a change to spend any time there yet. Summer weather has been wonderful this year in Wellington so we decided to wait until August to go to the island. The house is right on the beach so the kids barely took a look around the house before they ran to the shore to swim in the ocean and build sandcastles.

We decided to skip out on checking out the old ruins during this visit since we're hoping to come back really soon but we thought it would be nice to check out some of the local culture. The kids were pretty excited about eating street food.

Deacon and I really enjoyed just taking it slow and sitting by the fire every night after the kids had gone to bed. The island weather is pretty warm so the fireplace can really only be used late at night after the sun has gone down and it gets a bit cooler. It's nice to unwind. We specifically didn't want a lot of electronics in the house in order to unwind. We made a little exception with the kids' playroom - it has a TV and a game console in case a rare rainy day comes along.

The kids seem to prefer the outdoors anyway. Minka is especially fond of lying in a hammock just watching the clouds or reading a book.

Deacon insists that the kids put on sunscreen whenever we go outside. Too bad he doesn't do the same for himself. I kept telling him he would get a sunburn but did he listen to me? Of course not! I doubt that getting that hot stone massage made it any better although he did say that he felt very relaxed afterwards.

Nick on the other hand really loved the hot springs and he would soak there for a good amount of time and chat with the locals. He's such a lively little boy and gets along with everyone.

While we did wander around the island a bit, mostly we stayed at the house. We could barely get the kids to sit inside for breakfast and other meals and then they were off to play in the sand and swim.

Minka insisted on painting so of course Deacon went out and bought an easel. I try to be the strict parent because the kids have totally wrapped Deacon around their little fingers. He wants to give them the world and I sometimes have to put my foot down and remind him that it's not good for them to get everything they want.

Their favourite thing during our visit was definitely swimming in the ocean. We have a pool at home but they said it's not the same. And I agree. There's just something so relaxing about being seaside.

I hadn't realized I had been a bit stressed but I felt so relaxed at the end of our visit. We definitely want to come back soon. The kids kept asking if we could come back next month but I reminded them that school starts soon. They are pretty excited about seeing all their friends again.

Poor Nick was absolutely exhausted when we finally got home. I could barely get him to brush his teeth before he put on his pajamas and went to bed. I checked on him 5 minutes later and he was already fast asleep.

Minka managed to stay up long enough to have a little meal with Deacon but then he almost had to carry her upstairs because she was half asleep by the time they were finished. It was nice going away but it's so nice to be back home.


Notes:

• Title from "Good old days" by Macklemore feat. Kesha.
• I had initially planned to do a very short update for this family but then I decided to take them out on vacation. Both Deacon and Stella had the want to buy a vacation home so I was going to let them - except then I noticed that Deacon already owns a vacation home! I honestly have no idea when he has bought one, LOL!
• I'm trying to keep a steady flow of updates coming. The play schedule for this round is still up but I might end up making some changes in order to play faster.
• You may have noticed I haven't linked to the last update on this or the last few updates. It's just too tedious and time-consuming to check out the links and then go back to the older posts. The best way to follow up on a specific sim is to click on their name in the tags which will give you all the posts they're featured in.
• I'm still making some changes in the blog and moving things around so if you're reading older posts and the pictures aren't showing up then I apologize for the inconvenience, it's (at least supposed to be) just temporary. :)