Welcome back to the I Hart Space Legacy, a joint space-themed legacy between Roxanne and Kristina. It's Kristina here again, bringing you the final part of my turn with this family. In my last update, all the children of generation eight were born. Now it's time for my favorite part--seeing how they grew up.
If you missed any of the previous parts, you can catch up here. Otherwise, let's get on with the story!
In our last section, Cassini and her husband Ferdinando had the three children of generation eight. First came Neil, who is now a very ornery toddler on the cusp of his birthday. Next came Mae, our heiress, who is currently a very independent and accomplished toddler. Last came Yuri, who is just a little baby of indiscernible personality. Also in the house are proud grandparents Hadley and Jordon, and one naughty little dog named Marfusha.
Not much has changed with the family since you saw them last. Everyone is still obsessed with the numerous clay blobs that are still somehow all over the lot. Since I don't micromanage Hadley a whole lot these days, she can be found molding it into all sorts of shapes more often than not.
Jordon, on the other hand, gets a bit more of my attention. I've been having him use his writing skill to produce three Books of Life, powerful objects which will help to restore our children's motives once they are old enough. After many hours of writing, he finally finishes his last one for Yuri.
Meanwhile Cassini has been continuing to work on her Nerd Brain aspiration. Despite some setbacks with the rocket, she finally finishes enough space flights and appliance upgrades to finish it. This is her sixth aspiration completed. Next, she picks up Renaissance Sim, because she basically has everything done for that one anyway.
The children are accomplishing quite a bit as well. As Mae has the independent trait, she doesn't need Cassini and Ferdinando's help to skill. In fact, she works faster without them. She has been working on her thinking skill on her own using her tablet, and eventually maxes it out as her parents look uselessly on.
Neil is also working on finishing up his toddler skills. Imagination and movement are the last mountains he has left to climb, and after reading several books in the playroom and streaking around the house, he completes them. It's a good thing too, because his time as a toddler was quickly drawing to a close.
First, however, it's Yuri's time to shine. He pops out of his crib on his own in a rather impressive display of gymnastic ability.
He proves to be extremely adorable, and a bit more mellow than his siblings, even though he picks up the fussy toddler trait. He settles down with his father to start in on his communication skill right away.
Yuri's birthday happened to fall on New Year's Eve, which meant that I wasn't keeping as tight of a grip on the family. I was focused on decorating the house and making everyone decide on a resolution. Accordingly, pretty much all of the adults made a beeline for their favorite item in the house.
Later on that evening, it was Neil's turn to grow up. I managed to tear Cassini away from the clay just in time to help him blow out his candles.
Neil turns out to be an extremely cute little boy with a surprisingly positive personality. As a toddler, he was endlessly difficult and cranky, but as a child, he appears to have settled down. Let's hope it sticks.
He has also inherited his mother's love of the arts, and his entire family's love of clay. This was the very first thing he did upon becoming a child.
Since Neil maxed all of his toddler skills, he has the Top Notch Toddler trait. This makes him learn faster. I also have some lot traits active that help speed up children's learning and boost scientific-type skills. These helped out a lot as Neil settled in with Hadley to start working on the Whiz Kid aspiration. He finishes his required two games of chess with her in no time at all and then moves onto do some early homework.
Before turning in for the night, the family gathered around the TV for the countdown. Everyone had a successful holiday and went to bed ready to start in on a new year in the morning.
Well, almost everyone turned in for the night. Neil is finally old enough now for Jordon to bind a Book of Life to him, which he does before he goes to sleep. Every time someone reads this book, Neil's needs are all restored. So, there's no need for him to go to bed. Ever.
So he keeps plugging away at his skills. Over the course of the next three days, he makes excellent progress on his aspiration. The annoying thing about achieving Whiz Kid is that it gets stalled while waiting to do multiple days of homework while focused, and then again while waiting to earn an A at school. We move through most of it as fast as we can though.
After a few days of skilling, homework, and projects, Neil maxes his mental skill and moves onto the part of the aspiration that requires you to make three emotion potions on the chemistry set. He apparently attended the Collin Hart School of Science, but he manages to get this done.
All we had left to do to finish Whiz Kid at this point was wait for his grade to go up to an A. So, in the meantime, he moves on to building the creativity skill. It's odd that he has become such a quiet, nice kid after his extremely prickly toddlerhood, but he seems to have made quite the turnaround.
Yuri, on the other hand, is turning out to be a bit of a troublemaker. He seems to delight in sneaking away from what I direct him to do so he can make messes. I've never had another sim kid do this so much.
As a result, I have to keep a much closer eye on him than anyone else. Still, he ends up learning skills much more slowly that his brother and sister, because I have to keep pulling him back on task all the time. After way too much time goes by, he finally finishes communication.
In between wrangling Yuri into different activities, Cassini finds the time to job hop her way to completing Renaissance Sim. This is her seventh aspiration completed. I had her stick with the gardening career once she was done, since I was running out of things for her to do around the house. For her next aspiration, I switched her over to Successful Lineage, as that one seems like an appropriate one for a legacy heiress to settle down with for a while.
In the midst of all this learning, Marfusha became an elder. She celebrated this moment by pooping in the hallway. Not because of any age-related problem--just for the sheer joy of it.
Ferdinando didn't mind cleaning it up though. He loves Marfusha just like everyone else in the house does. He even dances with her all the time, something that I didn't even realize was a thing until he started doing it.
Meanwhile, Hadley and Jordon are mostly just enjoying their retirement. They still don't have much to do.
It literally came right down to her final moments as a toddler, but she did manage to finish up the imagination skill while sitting in a stinky diaper and reading furiously.
She popped into childhood without a party right after she earned the final point. It was that close. Judging by her facial expression, she did not appreciate the lack of fanfare.
Mae aged up into a very cute little girl with a predilection for pink and an interesting personality. It turns out that our little heiress is a bit of a brat--or at least, she will be by the time she's a teen with the materialistic trait and a hunger for fame. As of now, she's a kid who loves going outside and wants to build up her motor skill.
Accordingly, she heads outside to start working on her new aspiration. Please ignore the filth smudges. She did grow up in a dirty diaper, after all.
While all of this was going on, Marfusha ran away. I don't know why, because it's not like she was hurting for attention, but eventually she came back. ALL THE THINGS were wrong with her. so a trip to the vet was in order.
Hadley took her in while wearing a super-appropriate outfit and then took her home for a bath. It's always something with this one.
Back at home, Yuri continues to sneak away from the tasks I ask him to do to either make messes in the hallway or dance in the art studio. At least the dancing helps with his movement skill, but things are still moving slowly with him. Much slower than with his siblings.
After finishing up with the outside activities she needed for her aspiration, Mae moved onto practicing typing for her motor skill. Shortly after she grew up, Jordon bound another Book of Life to her, so, much like Neil, she doesn't sleep either.
Speaking of Neil, after a few more days of working, he maxes his creativity skill and is up to a B in school. Once he earns an A, we can finish up his Whiz Kid aspiration and move onto the others. In the meantime, he begins to work on his social skill with the puppet theater.
As time marched forward, Jordan's elder birthday drew near. I had him bake a cake for it, but Hadley swooped in and took a piece before I could stop her, so the party was cancelled.
So, instead, Jordan became an elder in the middle of the night, then immediately went back to sleep.
As the days continued to drift by, everyone kept working on skills. Under my (and Hadley's) strict supervision, Yuri continues to work on his thinking skill. He still has a long way to go.
Eventually, Love Day arrived. Hadley and Jordon kicked off the festivities while everyone else was at school or work. Swimming and mistletoe kissing aren't generally activities one does in the spring, but these two have always marched to the beat of their own drum.
Neil and Mae came home from school before long, ready to make more progress on their aspirations. Neil finally earned an A and completed Whiz Kid. I switched him over to the creativity one next, since he has already finished earning the skill points for that one already.
Mae finished Rambunctious Scamp by getting a high score on the typing game earlier that morning, so it's her turn to tackle Whiz Kid next. Accordingly, she settles down to do some focused homework.
Ferdinando was next to arrive on the lot with a promotion to Space Cadet. He's been plugging away dutifully on the astronaut career for a while now, because much like Cassini, he needs something to do with his time. The family is far past needing money for anything at this point.
Once Cassini returned home from her gardening career, they got down to the business of celebrating Love Day as well. It was not super-romantic, but in my defense, they do have three children to look after, one of which is probably spreading flour all over the hallway right now. Their date meant that all of the adults in the house accomplished their Love Day goals.
That just left the kids, who, for some reason, really wanted to give Love Day gifts. They creepily passed a rose back and forth to each other to accomplish this, then got back down to business.
For Neil, this meant playing with three different toys to move onto the next part of the Artistic Prodigy aspiration. I was happy to see from his little visions here that he at least has a rich inner life, because ever since growing into a child, this kid has lost all outward signs of a personality.
For Mae, this meant working on building up her mental skill at the chess table. By the end of the night, she maxes it out and moves onto creativity. Yuri also takes part in all the learning going on by working on his imagination skill with Cassini. After reading several books, he actually manages to finish that one.
The next morning brings with it the weekend, and an important reminder that this family is not super-responsible or particularly focused. We have Jordon playing with clay in the pool, Cassini just about to join him, and little Yuri in the background, struggling to feed himself by reaching for a hot dog off a high counter top right next to a screaming hot grill. No big deal.
After sorting out that display of terrific parenting, I have Cassini desperately plug away at the thinking skill with Yuri, who still insists on making mind-bogglingly slow progress on everything. He still keeps escaping from the tasks I set for him too, which doesn't help matters.
With it being Saturday, Neil and Mae have two whole days stretched out before them to continue on with their skills. Neil spends enough time playing instruments and drawing at the activity table to finish off Artistic Prodigy, his second childhood aspiration. I move him onto Rambunctious Scamp next.
Mae is currently awaiting her A in school to finish up her Whiz Kid goals, so I swap her over to Artistic Prodigy any have her plug away at that for a while. She ends up with quite an affinity for the violin, playing for hours and hours without trying to sneak away.
*Sigh* Just go to to bed.
Later that night, Hadley popped out of bed to age into an elder.
Then, she immediately stepped outside in her nightie to cook some steaks and have an erratic episode. Just another weekend at the Hart Observatory.
Most of Sunday was spent frantically trying to get Yuri to finish his toddler skills. He eventually finished up thinking after asking Cassini a million "why" questions, but he still had to do movement after that and he only had one day left at this point.
My inattention to everyone else during this time had consequences. I didn't get too annoyed with Mae though, because she at least had the courtesy to do this outside AND maxed her creativity skill while doing it. She finished the Artistic Prodigy aspiration soon afterwards.
Once the weekend started winding down, Neil worked through the night on his motor skill and made it across the monkey bars three times, finishing Rambunctious Scamp. I put him on Social Butterfly next.
The next day saw Neil and Mae back off to school and Yuri trying his hardest to defy the odds and max his movement skill. I gave it my all, but this kiddo was too sneaky and slow for my simming abilities. He popped into childhood with one point left to earn. He's the only Hart kid without the Top Notch Toddler trait.
Yuri is cute as anything, but he did not do so well in the traits department. Honestly, it seems like Neil and Yuri should have swapped their personalities, but we are bound by the legacy traits generator here, so what's done is done. At least his creative trait goes along well with his goal of becoming a bestselling author.
With Yuri grown up, Jordon wastes no time binding his last Book of Life to him. Now he can also join the all-skilling-all-the-time club with his siblings.
His assigned aspiration is Whiz Kid, so he sits down with his grandma for the required two games of chess while he waits for Mae and Neil to come home from school.
And then, tragedy strikes. Marfusha, who had run away again for some unknown reason, never really came home. She died while off the lot and her urn appeared in the hallway. Something about the way this death occurred didn't trigger the sims in the house to get the sad moodlet for it. This was convenient, I guess, but a very unfitting end for the naughty little dog that everyone doted on.
Her urn joins Laika's on the front table. They were two extremely different dogs, but both were incredibly loved and spoiled by this family.
Later that afternoon, Cassini returned home from her gardening job with a promotion to Stem Researcher. She got tense at work, hence the dramatic face.
She then moved on to helping her children with their homework, which is part of her successful lineage aspiration. She won't be able to finish it on my turn, because it requires her to have a child or grandchild reach the top of their career, so Roxy will have to make that happen if she is so inclined. It's not like this sim hasn't done enough aspirations already though.
Over the next few days, I start Neil and Mae in Scouts. Both start earning badges left and right. Neil starts in with the Arts and Crafts badge by drawing pictures at the activity table.
After that, he works on the Civic Responsibility badge by starting in on the mountain of laundry the family has been accumulating. His ability to levitate the bag next to his clenched fist is pretty impressive too, but alas, there is no merit badge for that.
As all the kids were doing very well with their skill building/badge earning, I turned my attention to some of the adults in the house for a little while. I finally sent Hadley and Jordon to the museum to view art for their artist aspirations.
I also made Ferdinando focus on earning the last few skill points he needed in fitness and videogaming to finish Renaissance Sim.
I wanted to hold off on putting Yuri into Scouts until he finished a few aspirations, so while Neil and Mae worked on badges, he continued to work on his mental skill. He eventually finished it.
So, in case you were wondering if clay is still a thing in this household, the answer is yes. Even our heiress can't resist its siren call.
She's doing so well in everything else though, so I let it slide. She's still working towards an A in school. Once she gets that, she will be done with the Whiz Kid aspiration.
Yuri is working hard on Whiz Kid too, by crafting emotion potions. He's also waiting on that A to finish it up.
One area I have been neglecting is the social skill. I've had the kids working on some puppet shows here and there, but I haven't focused much energy on it at all. They do, however, need to interact with each other for a few of the scout badges. Mae and Neil spend some time being nice to each other to satisfy those requirements and build up their social skill at the same time.
The next morning started off with a bang. Ferdinando set the grill ablaze trying to make tofu dogs.
Naturally, Marfusha took this opportunity to appear in ghost form to add to the chaos as Ferdinando fled the scene.
Luckily for the family, Cassini arrived in time to put it out. Every sim in the house was disrupted and panicking, and I was deeply annoyed.
There was just enough time left after the drama for Yuri to max his creativity skill before school. I decided to have him work on motor next, but he didn't have much time to start working on it before he had to head out for the day.
With the kids out of the way, Hadley and Jordon settled into work on their painting. They are both at the part of the artist aspiration where they have to produce five masterpieces. They probably won't make it, since they only work on it sporadically. but that's okay. Note that Jordon has his clay standing by at his feet, just in case I don't realize he's finished a painting and he ends up with some free time.
After school, Yuri goes back to working on his motor skill while Neil and Mae fish for the Outdoor Activity badge. after starting and stopping fishing several times, they both earn it.
That happened to be Neil's last badge, so now he is officially a Llamacorn Scout and earned the scouting trait. Mae isn't far behind.
Meanwhile, the clay sculptures are starting to get out of hand. I'm used to seeing the family mold the teapot, the bust, and the Eiffel Tower, but this is a new one for me.
The next day brings with it several accomplishments for the family. Both Yuri and Mae earn an A at school and finish the Whiz Kid aspiration. Yuri switches to the motor aspiration next and Mae turns to social. Mae also finishes her badges and become a Llamacorn scout, just like Neil.
Ferdinando and Cassini also both came home with promotions. Ferdinando is now officially an astronaut and Cassini is a Flower Fellow.
The next day is the start of another weekend, and our heiress has entered a mean phase. She immediately starts taking her frustrations out on Neil, her BFF and the current kindest person in the house.
After all that yelling, Mae needed a break from her family, so I sent her down to the library to meet people for her Social Butterfly aspiration. If you take a look at the expression on everyone's face, you can see that her company was much appreciated.
Meanwhile, back at home, I don't know what's happening. I don't think Ferdinando knows what to do either.
Once I got everyone back inside the house and fully clothed, the game informed me that Jordon's time was drawing near. This was depressing news, to say the least. Jordon's helpful, steady presence around the house will be missed when he goes.
There wasn't too much time to dwell on that though, because Neil's teen birthday finally arrived.
He grew up to be quite a handsome young man. He picked up the creativity trait and the Friend of the World aspiration.
His first act as a teenager was to do his high school homework - a very sensible, and very nerdy choice.
The next day, Mae starts making moves on her future goals. Having completed three out of the four childhood aspirations and all of the scouting badges, it's time for a new activity. Her eventual goal is the be a world famous celebrity, so she quits scouting and joins the drama club. This club comes with a classy new outfit, as it turns out.
She immediately begins practicing her lines in the mirror, and it appears that our heiress has a flair for the dramatic.
Neil also made some progress towards his future goals by practicing his charisma skill in the mirror. Ghost Laika put in an appearance for moral support.
I finally had Yuri join the scouts and he spent the evening working on accumulating badges, starting with Arts and Crafts, just like his siblings.
After Mae did enough acting practice to satisfy her job requirements, I sent her out on the town to make more friends for the Social Butterfly aspiration. She moved around all over the place, making friends with several sims.
As night turned into day, she made her last friend with young Alan here and finished Social Butterfly. The pair are clearly meant to be friends with each other, as they both share an interest in being obnoxious. With this achievement, Mae finished all of the childhood aspirations!
The next day finds Yuri continuing to work on his motor skill. He's maxed it long ago, but he is having a really difficult time getting the high score on the typing game. It's the last thing he needs to do to finish that aspiration, and he just can't seem to get it done. He's also been returning to some of his past toddler behaviors and sneaking away from the computer constantly to draw at the activity table. I'm back to keeping a very close eye on him.
Meanwhile, Jordon and Cassini are enjoying a nice breakfast together. Well, to be more specific, Cassini is eating breakfast while Jordon is having an alarmingly early juice, but it's still pretty cute. Jordon seems to be determined to make himself as lovable as possible before he dies.
The kids return home from school with projects to complete. and Mae is lucky enough to get help on her solar system model from her father, an actual astronaut. She should get some kind of extra credit for this.
After finishing his project, Neil quits scouts and picks up a job as a lifeguard. Accordingly, he starts working on his requirement to build body skill.
The next morning saw Yuri enter into a bear phase. Undeterred by his theatrics, I continued to make him play the typing game, unwieldy bear paws and all. He finally managed to get the high score (somehow) and finish the motor aspiration before heading out to school.
Cassini happened to have a day off, so she started working on authenticating some artifacts. I have long since had to disable authentication mail for her, since so many were piling up in the mailbox, but she still had a giant stash of things to identify in her inventory.
Sadly, Jordon finally passed away that afternoon, next to the gaming rig that he spent many hours of his golden years playing on.
Predictably, the family was devastated. Even Patchy and the maid were in hysterics. Everyone in the family got the sad moodlets and we settled in for some gloomy days while the family grieved.
Mae, like everyone else, was very sad about Jordon's passing. She still managed to get a promotion to line reader at drama club though.
After a long night of skilling for the children, Yuri finally finished the Artistic Prodigy aspiration before school. I switched him over to the social one next. It's the only one he has left to earn.
In times of grief, family members often lean on one another for support. The Harts take this idea extremely literally, apparently. Despite this weirdness, Cassini returned home with a promotion to Bouquet Biologist.
I had to de-fuse Cassini and Ferdinando quickly after work, because it was finally Mae's birthday. Hadley whipped up the cake, making sure to show off her skills.
As the birthday girl approached to blow out the candles. the family did a great job paying attention and looking engaged, as usual.
Mae grew up into a rather stunning teen, and added the materialistic trait to her personality, along with the World Famous Celebrity aspiration.
Guys, Mae isn't even in the room anymore. Nice try though.
Immediately upon becoming a teen, Mae pulled out her phone, and this became a theme throughout the rest of my turn. The girl loves her social media. As someone with a goal of becoming famous, this addiction is probably more helpful than not.
Now that she is old enough, our heiress can start earning acting skill points for practicing her drama club lines. She continues to display her trademark flair for the dramatic and starts building up the skill quickly.
I've also had Neil working on some grownup skill points. He's been working on a combination of fitness (for his lifeguard career) and charisma (for his popularity aspiration). He's slowly becoming quite the catch.
After almost everyone left for work or school, Hadley's time finally came. The family had just finished being sad over Jordon's death, only to immediately get sad again over this one.
Ferdinando and Patchy were there to see her off.
Her urn joins Jordon's out back, so they can be together in the sim afterlife. Goodbye generation six.
Upon returning home from school, the kids did their homework and started back in on their various pursuits. Yuri continued working on badges by fishing, dancing, and being kind to his family members.
Neil heads off to his first day in the lifeguard career. He happened to join the job at the start of several days off, so while he's been working on the skills for it, he hasn't actually gone in until now...and whoa! When did he become this muscular and confident??!! This sim knows how to play it cool.
As Neil was leaving, Mae, who between all the selfies and whims to purchase expensive items has never played it cool a day in her life, arrived home with a promotion to Practical Performer.
After a long evening of doing random things for scout badges, Yuri finally finishes enough chores to get his Civic Responsibility badge. This was his last one, making him a Llamacorn Scout, like the rest of his siblings.
Late that night, Mae gets up to level 4 acting skill, which unlocks a special mirror to help her learn faster. She worked with that for a while, until she found new targets to help her
As it turns out, it's Mae's world, and everyone else is just living in it. She starts roping in family members to read lines with her. First, she corners her father.
Then, she pounces on Neil once he gets home from his lifeguard duties.
She doesn't keep this practice contained to the house either. She drags Neil downtown to practice a sci-fi scene for tips. This was supposed to help her start building her fame, something I haven't started doing at all with her, but it didn't work all that great. Her adoring public isn't ready for her yet.
Meanwhile, the last thing for Yuri to knock out is the social aspiration. He heads outside to flag down every sim within shouting distance and starts making friends.
As my turn with the family was winding down, Ferdinando's birthday arrived. Characteristically, no one paid much attention. Note that Mae back there is really focused on what's most important.
He's still rather dashing.
After the "party," Yuri keeps working on his Social Butterfly aspiration by becoming BFFs with Mae. He just needs a few more friends to finish it now.
After that, my final few days with the family flew by. Mae continued to use poor Neil to practice her acting ability. She maxed the skill just as ghost Hadley appeared in the house for the first time.
Jordon appeared as well, and spent most of the time dancing in the art studio. This in extremely on-brand for him.
Yuri also eventually made the handful of friends required to finish the social aspiration, meaning that he has now completed them all.
I took Mae's portrait, and added it to the Hart picture wall, along with a smaller picture of the boys.
I also had Mae master a few more skills. She wants to become a celebrity, but how she does so will be up to Roxy. I wanted her to have options, so I had our heiress master dancing once she was done with acting. She maxes photography as well, since that's quick one.
My last day full with the family ended up being New Skill Day, meaning that the kids' already ridiculously fast skill building got even faster. I took the opportunity to have Neil max his charisma skill, which should help him make all those friends he aspires to have one day.
Yuri, who aims to become a writer, can't work on that skill yet as he's still a kid. He maxes piano instead.
For her last skill, Mae maxes singing. She's now an expert at acting, singing, dancing, violin, and photography. She's got the Top Notch Toddler trait, the Scouting Aptitude trait, the Savant trait, the Morning Sim trait, the Night Owl trait, and she is creatively, socially, physically, and mentally gifted. She also finds time to check her phone 100 times a day. She's set to do whatever Roxy wants once we switch turns...efficiently.
Yuri's birthday arrives, and the children all return home from school upset due to a combination of bad chance cards and mood swings. Perfect.
At least Cassini returns home happy. She scores a promotion to Ph.D. of Pollen, and is very close to finishing the career.
After Ferdinando bakes a quick cake, the family assembles to see Yuri become a teenager. As usual, no one can be bothered to actually watch, and Mae's teenage sulking ruins the picture.
And after blowing out the candles, Yuri grows up into...his father.
After I fix him up in the mirror, Yuri proves to be the best looking of the Hart bunch. He picks up the unflirty trait and the Bestselling Author aspiration.
Here are the three children of generation eight together. They all turned out pretty good looking and different from each other. I was a little worried when they were kids, since their facial features were quite similar, but they ended up unique in the end.
With Yuri officially a teen, my turn is now over. It's time for Roxy to take the family, make Mae into a world famous celebrity, and bring forward the ninth generation of Harts. Hopefully, Mae will be in a better mood once she gets to over there, because she is not having her big, goofy, weird family right now.
As always, it's been a blast playing this family and I can't wait to see where Roxy takes them next. Will Mae and her siblings fare well at university? Will Neil develop a personality? What will Mae become famous for? Will she ever stop checking her phone? I'm excited to find out. Until that time, happy simming everyone and thanks for reading!
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