Isabel Barillas-Wade- All Aboard.

Isabel (34) her wife Veronica (34)
Their children: Desiree and Eunice (3)
Narrated by Isabel
Last update/next update

We decided that it was time that we had a vacation.  I wanted to spend as much time as I could with my kids and wife.  Veronica was all for it.  Things at her job have been slowing down so she didnt put up much of a protest to go on vacation.

We decided to go to Tikki Island.  The girls were happy as clams getting in the sand.  Veronica managed to relax a little bit while I was worried that the girls would eat too much of the yummy sand.

It was so relaxing playing in the shallow water with the girls.  Veronica says that soon they will learn to swim. I guess she was dying to swim in the Ocean.  I told her to go ahead if she wanted to.

Instead she suggested that we build a sand castle. 

However once I put the girls down for their nap, Veronica jumped in the water and started to swim til her heart was content.

************

We decided to get a baby sitter.  I didnt think that we would end up staying on the island as long as we did. It was toward the end of our trip that I remembered that my uncle Oscar has a house here.  Too bad that I didnt think about asking him to stay there instead of the hotel. 

The girls were having a great time at the day care at the hotel.  We took advantage and had some fun for ourselves.  At lunch it felt as if we were back in our dating days. 

I even managed to convince Veronica to take a hula dance lesson with me. Turns out that she could have taught the class.  My love picked up the dance rather quickly while I was left struggling.

The last day there we got massages.  I think besides having the girls with us, this was the best part of the trip.   It felt so relaxing having our bodies massaged away.  Then it was time to head back to reality.

************

It sucked when we got home.  Veronica insisted on reading her work email.  There was a meeting in her absence and unfortunately the client was upset.  They decided to terminate her contract.  She still had to go to work to collect her last check which included some severance pay.  She had second thoughts about having gone to the trip.  She thought that if she had stayed her job would have been saved.

I tried to cheer her up but she didnt want to hear it. Now with two kids she said we needed all the money that we could get.  I mean my job as fashion editor pays but not enough to support us all the way we currently live.   Soon Veronica got up and said she had to start looking for another job.

She was on a mission so I let her be while I went up to unpack and make sure the girls were settled in for the night.  I really hope that Veronica find something soon.

Author's note~~~~~~~~~~
Veronica's job loss was due to an ROS.  She rolled the get fired ROS.  I hope she finds a job soon.  I dont like that toddlers cant go on vacation. I used a hack to bring Desiree and Eunice on vacation.  Sure some parents may want to leave their kids with a nanny and go on vacation but come on!

Ariel Dominguez- Ch 9- Starting to feel normal.

Ariel(34),her boyfriend Zeeshan Despret (40)
Children (with Frances) Ben and Estelle (14) and Nianna (10)

Narrated by Ariel

I have to admit things have been going great for our family. It feels that we are finally settling into moving on with our lives.  I still miss my baby girl but I have to stay strong for my children. 

I still have them help out with my so called attempt to garden.  After all these years we still are trying to be able to harvest vegetables that are good enough to eat. Ben has really dedicated himself to the garden. It makes me smile seeing him out there working hard.

Then I feel guilty that I am overworking my kids so I go in and help out.  Estelle says that this is their garden and I should let them take care of it.  I didnt think that they would be so possessive over it.

I am still dating Zeeshan. He finally met the kids.  Nianna approved him quickly.  She really took to him.  It makes me happy that they get along.

He comes over for dinner quite often. The kids and I love having him over.  I try to tell him that we can go out on dates but he says having dinner at my home is great.  Did I mention what a great guy he is.

When the kids go to sleep we hang out and watch TV.   I feel so relaxed when we are together.

But enough was enough. No matter how I like staying home, I needed some romantic alone time outside of the house.  Now that the kids are older they are OK to stay home for a bit.  I have told them that if I suspect something out of the ordinary is going on while I am gone then they will have a sitter until they are 21.  However Frances always comes by to do a surprise visit.  So far we have never been surprised.

After our dinner we decided to take a stroll in the park.  Its starting to getting a little chilly and I was ready to call it a night. 

Out of the blue Zee got on one knee and proposed to me.  I was in shock. I mean we are great but I honestly didnt expect him to propose.  After the shock wore off I of course said YES. I love Zee so much.  

We got home and the kids were waiting for me. Well except Nianna, she had fallen asleep. I couldnt believe that Zee had told the kids he was going to ask me to marry him. He had asked their permission first. 

***************

I am still friends with Frances even though we are divorced. We struggled at first but now we are fine.  He comes over to have breakfast with the kids when he gets a chance.  The kids told him before I could that I was engaged to Zee. 

We stepped aside and talked about it. He congratulated me and told me that he wishes me nothing but the best.He also told me that he had news too.  Turns out that he and Cecilia are trying to have a child.  I thought he was done having children but he said that Cecilia wanted at least one child.  This made me think of Zee.  We never really talked about having kids.  I dont know if I would want another child. I feel fulfilled with my three kids as it is.  I guess this is something that I need to talk to Zee about.

For now I just wanted to enjoy the breakfast with my kids.  I will talk to Zee about having children soon.

Linda Chalmers- Chapter 11- the kids are grown up.

Linda Chalmers(ex of Ian Barillas) (40), Payton her husband (47)
Children (w/Marcos) Eugenio, David, Pearla and Mateo(18), Clive and Xochil (12)
Last update/Next Update

Narrated by Linda

Now that my older children are young adults its harder to see them than before.  It seems like yesterday that they were babies.  I am glad that they get along with their half brother and sister.  There was a point when I was worried that they wouldn't get the opportunity to grow up together. however now that I look back and I think that they are fine.

Valentine is no longer a kitten. He is a cat with his own agenda.  Against our better judgement we decided to let the kids have a pet.  Now we just have to work on training him not to eat our human food.

Payton is not having so much luck with the real estate market.  He is currently licensed to sell only in Viramontes.  He has been contemplating getting licensed to sell property in the surrounding suburbs.  I think its a good idea.  As for me I am still enjoying the royalties from my music career.  Soon they will run out so I have to think of other options.


Payton noticed that Eugenio loves coming by more than his siblings.  I didn't notice it but then I saw him and a young girl named Celeste Kosmokos.  I think that they are together but he is not saying anything.  I hope that he does feel like he can talk to me about these things.  I dont want to push so I have not said anything.
 
Before long it was time to take them to Marco's house.  For now some are going to college and some are not. I wish they all went to college but I can't force them.  This is the hard part of being a parent of a young adult. You have to sit back and hope that everything you gave them is enough.  I can only hope that we did the correct thing.
********
Author's note: 
Linda Chalmer's is a sim extra.  She is only a playable because she was married to Marcos.  I sometimes struggle with how to represent the playables.  however I dont want those sims that were part of my rounds just to disappear. 

Melody Sofia Barillas- Ch 10-Getting my feet wet

Melody (35)
Previous/next update
Narrated by Melody

I am finally settled into my new apartment. Its great having my own space.

My brother Joshua came to see me with his new wife.  It was so great to see them together.  

I had made dinner for them.  Seeing them together made me miss being in a relationship.  Maybe it was time that I started dating again.

Joshua asked me if I was dating and I told him that I was thinking about it. I find it cute that he worries about his big sister.  I was just glad that he was happy with Ava.

***********************************

My cousin Audrina came to see me and convinced me to go downtown and see a cooking show.  Once I got there I wanted to join a contest so bad.  Audrina suggest I use one of the test kitchens and go for it.

So I did just that.  The cook was handsome and nice about letting me use his kitchen.
 
Audrina had left by this point.  I stood there nervously waiting for the judging to begin.  I got tired of waiting so I decided to mingle a little bit.
 
While talking to everyone this one guy caught my eye. His name is Wren Chen.  He was there because he says he likes to eat different cuisines. He even asked me out but I thought he was too bold. I negated the question and decided to go home for the night. I no longer cared if my food won a prize.

***********************************

 
I decided to go for my masters. I didnt have anything else to do so might as well get some more money.  I forgot how hard it was to go to school.  I did not miss all this studying and writing papers.

Guess that being in school made me be more social.  I met Corey Barnett.  We dating for a little bit.  He was younger than me but I figured he was good to get my feet back into the dating game.
 
No matter how hard I tried I just couldnt get the spark. I mean we had nothing in common. We decided to call it quits amicably. 
***************************************

One morning I was getting ready for work and I freaked out.  I looked out my window and saw my ex-husband staring at my building. I didnt know what he was doing there but I didnt want him to see me. I also didnt want to see him.  I really didnt want to see him.

Joshua came over. I told him about seeing Josh and he was freaked out. He asked me if I should call the police and report him. I didnt think that was necessary.  I mean he didnt knock at my house or anything. He just passed by.  However, Joshua made it a point to point out that Josh lives in Paradise cove not Viramontes any more.  I told him that we should just wait and see.

****************************************

I bumped into Wren and he would not take no for an answer.  I decided to finally give in and give him a chance. 

I never thought that we would hit it off so well.  We began dating and I am happy to say that we had a great time.

He asked me if I wanted to make it just he and I.  I wanted to make it just about us. 

We started to see each other every night. I havent felt alive in such a long time.

We decided to take it to the next level. It had been such a long time.  It felt good to feel so close to someone again. I just hoped that Wren felt the same.


after what felt like weeks seeing each other non stop we agreed that we should take a tiny break.  I meant things were going too fast.  We needed to slow down.  So we decided to take a breather.  I hope we can last a few days without each other.