I started a new family and I acted with slightly more moderation.

I had my Lady Sim, Sienna, procreate twins, which are still a lot of work since they tend to want to be fed, played with and diapered both at the same time. So I forced a new person to move in with us to be the twins care taker. My house is a gigantic gothic house complete with attic. So the twins' nanny lives up stairs in the attic.

I still needed some extra help around the house so I called for the Maid service. Then I made the maid a permanent addition to my house so she does all the cleaning up and meal preparation. I moved her up into the servants quarters as well.

Having servants isn't all I thought it would be. It's actually quite demanding to boss them around all day. You have to constantly stay on top of them. The maid isn't very self directed so I have to direct her in her cleaning all day. And I swear that nanny just leaves the babies lying around wherever. I even have to remind them to use their designated bathroom/shower instead of the good bathrooms and to take their meals and their rest after the family is taken care of.

It's hard life for Sims rolling in the Simoleons.

6 babies is 6 too many in the Sims world.

The problem with conjuring 6 Sims babies with the cheat code is they are all named "baby girl" or "baby boy". They all look like the same wriggling lump of Sims baby flesh, so it's difficult to remember what you did for which baby.

I bought a gigantic new space to house all the babies. And I had three adults to take care of the babies. Three adults were not sufficient to take care of the babies. The babies all cried for attention at the same time; needed fed at the same time; and needed diapers changed at the same time. By the time you got through the cycle of care, it was time to do it all over again. With maybe a few split seconds to run to the bathroom or stuff your face in the fridge.

It only took a few minutes for the cries of 6 babies to irritate me. So I scrapped that family.

My experiment with large Sims Families just got a lot more interesting. I LOVE CHEAT CODES.

I just discovered how to make new babies without even having a pregnancy. You do the cheat code and a new baby just shows up on the floor. So, as you might imagine, I quickly conjured up 6 new babies for my family of mom, dad, and 4 kids for a whopping total of 10 family members.

I also used cheat codes to force my oldest daughter to grow into an adult early. That's what happens in large families, right? The oldest grow up quickly to help take care of the youngest.

Then I used the cheat code to give myself $350,000. Normally, I don't care for using money cheats. I like to earn money the old fashioned SIMS way...by working. But as you might imagine, the house was busting at its seams with babies. I need space for 6 cribs. I'm thinking the social workers will take the babies away if I just let them lie on the floor. I guess there is only one way to find out though!

On my way and back from my short hiking trip (see my last post) I drove through rural NY and I saw...

Reindeer
A camel
Horses
A home that looked inhabitable in which someone was actually living.
Two homes with graveyards in the backyard. I mean, they could open up their back door and touch a grave stone.
Pussy Willows which might be of interest to those planning on celebrating Dyngus day.
An all you could eat Pancake Breakfast at a VFW Hall at which point I almost stopped.
And Greek news coverage of Greek politics, American politics, Venezuelan politics and a general interest story about someone who puts blankets of lights on on all the sheeps in the herd and then trains them to perform a routine...sort of like a marching band.

I bundled up this morning and went hiking at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. It's a small wildlife preserve about 45 minutes from Buffalo. East on I90 and north on rural route 77.

I planned on hiking the Swallow Hollow trail followed by the Onondoga trail. Finding the Swallow Hollow trailhead was incredibly easy as it was well marked with signs.

The trail is about 1.3 miles long and takes you through a marsh area. Part of the trail is on a wide, well maintained gravel path and part of the trail is on a well maintained wooden boardwalk right above the marsh. The trail takes you directly through marsh land with an incredible variety of bird calls filling the air. Followed by marsh is a small section of pine followed by a small section of hardwood trees. Then you walk along a dike that takes you around a small marshy pond. Along the way, there is a clearing in the woods for a terrific view across the marshy pond. Standing for a few minutes I saw seagulls, hawks, blackbirds, and canadian geese. Further along the marshy pond signs indicated that you could see snapping turtles and woodland ducks, but my guess is that I would have to come back later in the spring for those sights.

It was an easy walk allowing for no illusions of trail blazing or adventure. It's a good trail for someone who wants to see nature but doesn't want to work very hard or get dirty. Good for little kids too, I would think. Possibly good for someone in a wheel chair. Not a lot of incline or decline and there is a ramp at the trail head that allows wheel chair access down to the path. I would go again just for the wild life viewing opportunities.

I tried going to the Onondaga trail to give that a try but the road to the trailhead is closed between December 1st and April 1st. I was a little disappointed that they didn't post that information on the website.