Just Keep Swimming | Greetings from Mt. Geneva

Hey everyone! I have a few topics to discuss with you today.

Bon Voyage
I’m getting excited about the next EP; how about you? I’ve seen so many things already that will be PERFECT for Ahanu Bay. Pirate ships, ancient ruins, hammocks, sandcastles, and best of all – SWIMMABLE BEACH LOTS! Yeah, I’m plunking money down for this puppy today.

Other things I’m excited about:

Massage tables, hot springs, and saunas
Four dances your Sims can learn
The ability to walk to community lots (instead of calling and subsquently waiting for the taxi)
Wearable jewelry
More turn-ons and turn-offs
Portable camera
Campfires

Things I’m not so excited about, but am hoping cheats will rectify:

We won’t be able to run hotels, even if we have OFB
Sims may have to go on vacation to eat the new foods, learn greetings, and buy souvenirs…but as my hood is already a vacation destination (in my mind, at least) I’d love it if Sims didn’t have to travel to do that stuff!

We have a nice Bon Voyage discussion going at SimScribes, if anyone is interested.

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TheSimSonian
My fellow blogger and hood-builder mildlydisguised is a contributor to a new monthly Sims web-magazine called The SimSonian. I just read the first issue this morning and was wildly entertained! Very funny stuff, as well as some useful information. Be sure to check it out!

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Answers to Your Questions
I apologize for the delay on addressing your questions from the comments on “Down by the Bay”. Here are some answers for you:

Jo – You asked about the palm trees. They’re all by alex_stanton1983 at MTS2. He has a ton of them, and they’re all lovely!

Marie – I have the free site(s) for July posted now!

Jacqueline – Yes, I am working on a credits section for Ahanu Bay. It’ll be similar to my Annabel Island credits. I’ll let you guys know when I have it up and running.

simlover – I hadn’t thought about putting any of my cottages up for download, but if you are interested, I can certainly do that!

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Proposal on the Beach

And since I hate seeing huge chunks of nothing but text on my blog, here’s a snapshot to break it up!

Ahanu Bay

That’s Brice Castillon and Kelsey Pollitt, two of my Ahanu Bay founders, getting engaged on my community beach lot. They’ve already moved out of their cottages and into a small house, and gave birth to a kid! But I’m redesigning the hood slightly and writing up a real history for it, so Brice and Kelsey (and the others) are no longer “founders” — they’re just residents of AB.

I’m working on Fran this weekend (I’m determined, by golly), so stay tuned!

Also in the works (just posting it here to remind myself!):
-Barn tutorial
-House-building tutorial
-Ahanu Bay hood terrain for download (just gotta take the pics)

So much to do, so little time…

12 thoughts on “Just Keep Swimming”

Yeah your back. Did you have fun on vacation? Love the picture it looks so beautiful there. Can’t wait for the next Fran update and a barn tutorial yeah. Can you write a tutorial about building Legacy houses I am having alot of trouble?

Gleeee!
Again: Gleeeeeee! :D
You’re the first person to actually make me want Bon Voyage! So far I’ve been very ‘meh’, but the new additions to the actual gameplay makes it sound like a worthy addition. If all else fails I’ll treat it like I do Uni: a necessary evil to get the neat stuff that comes with it.
I really love Ahanu Bay. I love how it seems so nice and small, I’ve found that a really compelling thing in both my own hoods and the sim stories I read. Same thing with Fran. …! I am willing to sacrifice several pounds of good chocolate in return for a Jenba house building tutorial! *.*

I am excited about it, and will get it as soon as I can afford it, which maybe I will since next month is my b-day. Anyways, yeah I’m looking forward to it because it sounds like lots of fun AND it might possibly be just like Sims 1 Vacation, and I loved that one

Hi. I hope you had a good time on holiday. I am looking forward to buying Bon Voyage myself though I hope that babies and toddlers will be able to come along too.

I’ll also be looking forward to your next Fran update.

Keep Simming!.

See ya.

Great update, I really want Bon Voyage now even without being able to own hotels :) And thanks for promoting TheSimSonian, I’m really glad you liked it!

Looking forward to your tutorial and story updates :)

Just a question, who is actually older, Fran or Rico, cause it’s kinda hard. Personally I think Rico acts younger than Fran but maybe that’s just boys?

sorry to be such a pain in the rear but can you upload the beach pwetty pwease

Laura I. – Yes, I had a great time on vacation! Thanks for asking. I saw some humpback whales and sea lions, so my life is pretty much complete now. ;) As for legacy houses, what are you having trouble with? I’d love to help, but I haven’t actually built a legacy house in awhile, and mine were never all that efficient. You could take a look at my Shanley Legacy House tour, which might give you a few pointers, and maybe check out Audrey’s Legacy Blog — she is the legacy queen, with three legacies going at the moment! You can see the layout of her homes in some of her pictures. Bitsy at Somnium is another one who is a genius with legacies (and she builds wonderful houses, too). Hope that helps!

Kay – Very good point about Bon Voyage being like Uni — a necessary evil if you want all the cool bits. Even though I don’t send my Sim kids to college anymore, I still use the musical instruments all the time, and if you get those hacked diplomas, you can access the five careers, too. Plus, what is life without the cowplant? And did someone say “chocolate”?!?

Marcie – You’re one of the few people I’ve heard from who actually liked Sims 1 Vacation! Heh. I thought it was just OK, but I’m sure Bon Voyage will be better, if only because TS2 is so much better than TS1. Hope you get it for your b-day!

Pandora Moon – I read somewhere that toddlers can go on vacation, but then I read somewhere else that they can’t! So I’m not sure what’s up. I know pregnant women can go, but not babies. At least, that’s what they’ve told us. Who knows until it actually comes out, I guess!

mildlydisguised – The SimSonian rocks! You guys are a hilarious bunch.

Anonymus – Rico is older than Fran, but only by a few days. And yes, he acts younger, because everyone knows that boys take longer to mature than girls do…

Kitty – I’d love to upload the beach lot for ya but it has some custom content, so that gets a little tricky. I could redo it without CC, but that would take some time, or I could give a list of the CC I used, and you could download it. It depends on whether or not you want to use custom content!

And the Fran update is ALMOST DONE! :-D

I’d like to second the request for the beach lot. Or maybe a link to some of the custom content you use on your beach? Your Sims are very lucky to have a beautiful beach like that. Speaking of beaches, how do you get your lots to be on the beach/water (like the terrain, some of your lots are on the beach or partially in the water)?

I’m looking forward to the Fran update!

Thank you for answering my question!

BV sounds great, I’m impressed so far (especially about the wearable jewelry and the ability to walk to community lots). It is a disappointment the fact that we can’t build hotels, I was thinking about this yesterday…that would have kept me entertained.

My sims usually don’t like to dance…most of them are lazy Capricorns just like me but they will surely enjoy campfires ^_^

Hi Jen… I’ve been away for a bit so I’ve just been catching up on what’s going on with your site. I aggree with you about the paysite issue… some of them are just plain evil but there are lots that have an awful lot of really excellent free content too and I don’t think they should get caught in the crossfire.

Also, a bit of updated news about my site for your links… The Kingdom of Mhalwae now has its own domain (hurrah!) http://www.mhalwae.com so you might want to change the link to that. Also I am no longer posting at verity’s sims (I haven’t been for quite a while… sorry, maybe I should have let you know sooner).

Looking forward to seeing what happens with Ahanu Bay… I absolutely loved the beautiful postcard shots. It looks like an awesome place to live (especially when I am facing Swedish summer which isn’t quite as good as Australian… oh for Australian beaches. It is too cold here to even go swimming :(

Whoops… should have changed the link for my name to the new site, but what I had filled in before came up automatically so I just clicked. It is right now if you click there.

Laura I. on August 3, 2007 at 11:30 am said:

Yeah your back. Did you have fun on vacation? Love the picture it looks so beautiful there. Can’t wait for the next Fran update and a barn tutorial yeah. Can you write a tutorial about building Legacy houses I am having alot of trouble?
Kay on August 3, 2007 at 1:31 pm said:

Gleeee!
Again: Gleeeeeee! :D
You’re the first person to actually make me want Bon Voyage! So far I’ve been very ‘meh’, but the new additions to the actual gameplay makes it sound like a worthy addition. If all else fails I’ll treat it like I do Uni: a necessary evil to get the neat stuff that comes with it.
I really love Ahanu Bay. I love how it seems so nice and small, I’ve found that a really compelling thing in both my own hoods and the sim stories I read. Same thing with Fran. …! I am willing to sacrifice several pounds of good chocolate in return for a Jenba house building tutorial! *.*
Marcie on August 3, 2007 at 6:47 pm said:

I am excited about it, and will get it as soon as I can afford it, which maybe I will since next month is my b-day. Anyways, yeah I’m looking forward to it because it sounds like lots of fun AND it might possibly be just like Sims 1 Vacation, and I loved that one
Pandora Moon on August 4, 2007 at 6:47 am said:

Hi. I hope you had a good time on holiday. I am looking forward to buying Bon Voyage myself though I hope that babies and toddlers will be able to come along too.

I’ll also be looking forward to your next Fran update.

Keep Simming!.

See ya.
mildlydisguised on August 4, 2007 at 1:08 pm said:

Great update, I really want Bon Voyage now even without being able to own hotels :) And thanks for promoting TheSimSonian, I’m really glad you liked it!

Looking forward to your tutorial and story updates :)
Anonymus on August 5, 2007 at 3:57 pm said:

Just a question, who is actually older, Fran or Rico, cause it’s kinda hard. Personally I think Rico acts younger than Fran but maybe that’s just boys?
Kitty on August 6, 2007 at 12:27 pm said:

sorry to be such a pain in the rear but can you upload the beach pwetty pwease
Jen on August 6, 2007 at 2:33 pm said:

Laura I. – Yes, I had a great time on vacation! Thanks for asking. I saw some humpback whales and sea lions, so my life is pretty much complete now. ;) As for legacy houses, what are you having trouble with? I’d love to help, but I haven’t actually built a legacy house in awhile, and mine were never all that efficient. You could take a look at my Shanley Legacy House tour, which might give you a few pointers, and maybe check out Audrey’s Legacy Blog — she is the legacy queen, with three legacies going at the moment! You can see the layout of her homes in some of her pictures. Bitsy at Somnium is another one who is a genius with legacies (and she builds wonderful houses, too). Hope that helps!

Kay – Very good point about Bon Voyage being like Uni — a necessary evil if you want all the cool bits. Even though I don’t send my Sim kids to college anymore, I still use the musical instruments all the time, and if you get those hacked diplomas, you can access the five careers, too. Plus, what is life without the cowplant? And did someone say “chocolate”?!?

Marcie – You’re one of the few people I’ve heard from who actually liked Sims 1 Vacation! Heh. I thought it was just OK, but I’m sure Bon Voyage will be better, if only because TS2 is so much better than TS1. Hope you get it for your b-day!

Pandora Moon – I read somewhere that toddlers can go on vacation, but then I read somewhere else that they can’t! So I’m not sure what’s up. I know pregnant women can go, but not babies. At least, that’s what they’ve told us. Who knows until it actually comes out, I guess!

mildlydisguised – The SimSonian rocks! You guys are a hilarious bunch.

Anonymus – Rico is older than Fran, but only by a few days. And yes, he acts younger, because everyone knows that boys take longer to mature than girls do…

Kitty – I’d love to upload the beach lot for ya but it has some custom content, so that gets a little tricky. I could redo it without CC, but that would take some time, or I could give a list of the CC I used, and you could download it. It depends on whether or not you want to use custom content!

And the Fran update is ALMOST DONE! :-D
Rachel on August 6, 2007 at 9:58 pm said:

I’d like to second the request for the beach lot. Or maybe a link to some of the custom content you use on your beach? Your Sims are very lucky to have a beautiful beach like that. Speaking of beaches, how do you get your lots to be on the beach/water (like the terrain, some of your lots are on the beach or partially in the water)?

I’m looking forward to the Fran update!
Jo on August 7, 2007 at 12:16 pm said:

Thank you for answering my question!

BV sounds great, I’m impressed so far (especially about the wearable jewelry and the ability to walk to community lots). It is a disappointment the fact that we can’t build hotels, I was thinking about this yesterday…that would have kept me entertained.

My sims usually don’t like to dance…most of them are lazy Capricorns just like me but they will surely enjoy campfires ^_^
Verity on August 8, 2007 at 8:59 am said:

Hi Jen… I’ve been away for a bit so I’ve just been catching up on what’s going on with your site. I aggree with you about the paysite issue… some of them are just plain evil but there are lots that have an awful lot of really excellent free content too and I don’t think they should get caught in the crossfire.

Also, a bit of updated news about my site for your links… The Kingdom of Mhalwae now has its own domain (hurrah!) http://www.mhalwae.com so you might want to change the link to that. Also I am no longer posting at verity’s sims (I haven’t been for quite a while… sorry, maybe I should have let you know sooner).

Looking forward to seeing what happens with Ahanu Bay… I absolutely loved the beautiful postcard shots. It looks like an awesome place to live (especially when I am facing Swedish summer which isn’t quite as good as Australian… oh for Australian beaches. It is too cold here to even go swimming :(
Verity on August 8, 2007 at 9:00 am said:

Whoops… should have changed the link for my name to the new site, but what I had filled in before came up automatically so I just clicked. It is right now if you click there.