Yes, you might be surprised that the review hasn't been finished yet. As it happens, illness has struck again and this has really set me back. Although I'm still on antibiotics, the review must be finished by the time the next EP comes out.

This time, we're off to the island resort and once again, another family is helping us out.

Hello, we're the Greshams. I'm Will, this is my wife Jolene, Yolanda and Bradley, who are our twins and we have a dog called Saxon, who wandered off the shot. We haven't been long in Simville and my redundancy package from Simotronic Arts following the cancelling of the "Sim Pub" game has left enough money for us to go on vacation. As it's raining, I thought there was no time like the present to book, especially considering neighours Toshiro Kanazawa was going on about his recent trip and Cyrus Stransky was also mentioning he was taking a vacation. This Twikkii Island sounded about right.

Please excuse the firetruck. Yolanda was making some spaghetti when she set the kitchen on fire. I told her we'd eat on the flight but the kids of today just don't listen. Anyway, the nanny is here to look after Saxon and the shuttle is on its way. Yolanda is in the shower so I'd better give her a shout. We don't want to miss our flight.

Gameplay Note
Vacations in TS2 are not pet friendly. Nor are they baby and toddler friendly. As it happens, either an adult or teen needs to stay at home to look after them or you must hire a nanny. As a nanny charges a base rate of §250 and §10 per hour thereafter, expect at least another §750 added to the cost of the trip.

We made it to the Double Palms motel. The shuttle left before Jolene and Yolanda had got onboard but they managed to rejoin us before the flight left. It was an uneventful flight and we were pleased when we dropped off outside our hotel at about 10am. I decided to heed the advice of a friend who said not to book in before midday. So, we made the most of the facilities and took a dip in the hot spring. Yolanda did not appear too thrilled with the idea and instead started digging for treasure. She appeared to find a couple of bones, which she did not seem too pleased with. At least we will have something to take home for Saxon.

After a while, the twins stopped for something to eat for lunch from the food stall. I think Bradley had a Teriyaki Mahi-Mahi and Yolanda had a Pineapple Surprise. It appeared she enjoyed that quite a lot.

It was just turned midday and I booked us in. I booked a double room for Jolene and myself and a twin room for the twins. It came to just over §1,000 per night. While I was doing that, Jolene was relaxing on the hammock daydreaming of her true love. Or perhaps she's just daydreaming about our neighbour. Not the same thing, is it?

Gameplay Notes

This is Jolene. Yes, as in the song by Dolly Parton. I decided that we would all do something together as family and I spoke to the nice tour guide outside the hotel who mentioned the three trips that they had. There was a Parasailing, a tour in a Helicopter and a tour in a Glass Bottom Boat. When I was a kid, I really enjoyed those underwater programs with Jack Coaster-Clouseau-oh whoever. You know who I mean. I was sure our family would love a trip like that to local marine wildlife through the hull of a glass boat, so I booked us all in. At only §100 per person, we could easily afford it.

There was a small crisis when on the tour. The boat scraped some coral and cracks appeared. I was surprised when Bradley suggested using Simgley's Spearmint Gum to plug up the holes. Everyone else joined in and the hull held. I was so proud of him. Everyone appeared to enjoy the trip. Even Yolanda was saying how good the holiday was already turning out to be.

It was about 5 o'clock when we got back. The twins went to freshen up, Will said he was going to try out some of the Luau Ribs from the food stall and I powdered my nose and then had a bath.