The Vincis (C) - Round 4

Starring:

Paolo Vinci, Adult Family Sim, LTW Have 6 Grandchildren

Caitlin Cleary, Adult Family Sim, LTW Graduate 3 Children from College

~*~*~*~*~

Last time we saw Paolo and Caitlin, they were at university, living with Fiona and Enzo and Imelda in a house on campus. They've graduated now and are ready to start their family. Will life go as smoothly as they hope?

The first thing on Paolo and Caitlin's agenda when they moved in next door to their brother and sister was to start planning their wedding. They wanted to get married right away. After all, they'd been together since before they even went away to college, and now a marriage just seemed to them the logical culmination of all those years spent together.


They decided on a non-traditional, quiet ceremony in their back yard, with just their families. After all, it wasn't the wedding that either of them cared about but the fact that they would be married when it was over. Caitlin wore an old prom dress that brought out the green in her eyes, and Paolo rented a tux for the day.


The ceremony was quiet and beautiful, and Paolo and Caitlin were happy just to have Fiona, Enzo, Imelda, Colm, and Roisin there in a true family affair. They were finally married! They both felt that they could hardly ask for a better thing out of life.


Part of the reason they decided on a small wedding was so that they could use some of their money to take a small honeymoon to the mountains. As soon as the wedding party cleared out, they packed their bags and climbed into the airport shuttle to head to their destination.


As soon as they got to their lodgings, they couldn't believe how lovely and rustic it was. Everything was a log cabin, and there were huge fir trees everywhere. The air was clear and crisp and everything made them feel utterly alive. The romance and love between them practically crackled in the air around them.


They quickly settled into a routine. During the day, they ran around the mountains exploring, sight-seeing, and getting involved in the local traditions. At nights they had quiet dates together. One of their favorite activities was log rolling. Paolo threw Caitlin off half a dozen times before she got the hang of it.


Then he was really in for some payback.


They did everything. Even the "boring" stuff that they would have hated their parents dragging them to when they were children.


Caitlin was the designated picture-taker, and she obsessively documented everything, especially Paolo humorously trying to get a bulls-eye by hurling an axe at a target. "It takes more skill than you think!" Paolo protested, whereupon Caitlin picked up an axe and hurled it dead on into the center of the target. Paolo laughed and grabbed her into a tight hug. "Show off," he accused, kissing her nose.



All the physical exertion made them sore, so they took the opportunity to check out the hot springs they'd heard about from one of the numerous tour guides wandering around waiting for a chance to show them "the best the mountain had to offer."


Before they headed back to the hotel, they stopped for a genuine mountain meal: a big stack of flapjacks with maple syrup on them. They were both starved, but by the time they reached the end of that enormous stack of flapjacks, they could barely walk, they were so full.


Back at the lodge, they relaxed in their room, waiting for their food to digest and talking about the things they'd seen that day. Of course, it didn't take long for relaxing to turn into something else. But that's what honeymoons were for, right?



The next day, they went back to the hot springs to see what else they had to offer. Caitlin got permission from Paolo to splurge on a deep-tissue massage, and then, a lesson on how to give a deep-tissue massage.


While his wife was under the elbows of the master, Paolo sat in the steam room and dozed under the heat of the steam.


Refreshed after their morning being pampered, they went out behind the lodge to look for some hidden treasure. A local had told Paolo when he ventured out of his room that morning that rumors claimed there were threads of gold in the mountain that you could find bits of if you dug in the right spot. Paolo and Caitlin weren't gold-crazy, but they thought it would be fun to find a souvenir piece of it to take home. They started digging.


Paolo found a few old bones, the origin of which he couldn't determine. Caitlin found the water line.


Later that night, after they'd showered off the mud of digging, they slipped into the lodge's hot tub, which was nestled prettily at the base of the mountainside. Of course, in bathing suits, in the bubbling water, they couldn't resist snuggling a bit close.


And since the pool and hot tub area were so completely abandoned at that time of night...they indulged in a little naughty behavior. Everything got the excuse in their head, "Hey, we're honeymooners!"



The next day, they finally gave into the tour guide's fliers and decided to go on a mountain hike. After all, it would be nice to get up close and personal with nature, to be able to reach out and touch it the way they couldn't in a more populated area like Rosebud.




Unfortunately, they got a little TOO up close and personal with nature, running into a bear on the way. The tour guide assured them that the way to deal with bears was to be confident and not back down. It saved them from being eaten, but not their food. By the time they got back home, they were nearly starved.


After another huge dinner of flapjacks that they scarfed gratefully, Caitlin and Fiona decided to light a fire and think over their trip so far. They'd seen so much, and the time away from friends and family to just be alone was wonderful. "I kind of hate to go back," Caitlin admitted. "But there are good things waiting. Like the new family we're going to start," Paolo answered, and Caitlin smiled and kissed him. "Let's go back to the lodge."


She smacked him gently, playfully. "You're terrible. We can do that all we want when we get home. Can we stay a bit longer?" He gave in, happy to do anything that made her happy. They roasted marshmallows until their bellies were sick from the sweet, toasted fluff.


Before they went back to the lodge, they took a little while to simply lie and watch the stars. This was, they both felt, the most romantic thing they would ever do. The whole vacation had been amazing. Regretfully, they got up and headed back to their room to spend their last night in the heavy oak bed with its rustic quilt.


When they got back, Paolo immediately got a job in the culinary field because that's where most of his skill lay, and he figured he could make the most money that way. Eventually, he hoped to open his own restaurant, the way his parents had. With nothing much to do until his new job started, he enjoyed being home alone with his wife and their things in their new home.


Caitlin wasn't feeling quite as exuberant to be home. She thought she might have picked up a bug from vacation, but that would pass soon enough, and then, they were perched on the starting line of their new life.

Stick around to see how the newest generation of Rosebud teens do at uni!

~*~*~*~*~

Scoring:

No new points.

[[Author's Notes: Okay, Paolo and Caitlin are so disgustingly adorable together. When I first moved them into the duplex and gave them new outfits, I just picked what I thought fit them and didn't pay attention to how the outfits would look together... When I realized they now match, I was like...okay, so that's actually so perfect for these two. Neither have career-related wants, only HAVE BABY wants. If I can make it happen, they'll have three children, each of whom have at least two children each before Caitlin and Paolo keel over. It's a tall order, but I'm going to go for it!

In other news, this was my first time sending sims on vacation. It was actually a lot of fun, though I don't think I could handle it with a big huge family, unless I just let them run around autonomous the whole time and documented their antics. Which, in itself, could be interesting! Nothing much else to say about these two. It was a peaceful round.

This Entry's MP3:
Marry Me by St. Vincent (from the album Marry Me)

Bloopers:
Good thing Caitlin isn't a vampire. // Have I mentioned that Paolo is very neat?]]