Rocco is out to visit Araceli at her house to play soccer together, only to find her older brother Kenton watching TV.

Kenton, who has inherited his parents’ genius, is determined to make sure that his younger cousins are performing well in school (since they’re related, and he doesn’t want to be associated with any relative who fails), so he offers to help Rocco with his homework.

Surprisingly, the cousins get along well enough that he even offers to look after the kids so that they could watch one of Gaby’s live shows. (Mostly because Kenton just wants Araceli to stop nagging him about it)

His sister’s opinion of him drastically improves though, so it’s a win-win for both siblings.

Here’s Gaby preparing for one of her live shows.

Her audience is always so small, but they are enthusiastic and supportive, and that’s enough for her to do her best for every performance.

With the way how things turned out so differently from what she expected, Gaby feels like she’s in a pretty good place in her career, being dubbed as the “local favorite”.

Sure, it may not be as grand as her Aunt Eva’s or her mom’s careers, but it’s nice to see that she’s leaving some positive impact on the people around here.

Tonight, Kenton is on another babysitting duty, and leaves the kids alone to do whatever they want while he starts eating the dinner he made for everyone.

Here they are. Fooling around, as kids do.

Their older cousin, Brentley, gets to fool around with eating snowcones whenever he pleases, a pleasure that they can’t obtain (yet).

Talking about science only after eating snowcones. He’s an adult with real priorities.

One of his priorities was to recruit Ramona to the facility and secure her genius talent into the workspace, but her aunt never budges from her refusal, so he gives up.

Ramona agrees to take a tour of the facility though, and so off they go on a bright Saturday morning.

“Our class had a field trip here,” Ramona lets him know, since they were in different classes during high school. “I got in trouble for sneaking inside the greenhouse, but I was able to shift the blame on Shameka Humphries instead.”

Her nephew laughs. “Too bad she didn’t get locked in back then.” He’s not too fond of his first ex-girlfriend, who cheated on him with one of the older employees of the facility. “Now that I’m actually working here, I can give you unlimited access to the greenhouse!”

“That’s awfully generous of you, Brent.”

“I’m just kidding. Ma will kill me if she finds out I’m exposing top-secret experiments.”

“Ooorrr we could shift the blame on Shameka again,” she says thoughtfully.

They waste no time in harvesting some of the genetically-engineered plants that the facility has been working on. Some of the more “dangerous” plants are hidden deep in the greenhouse, and even Brentley doesn’t have enough authority to access those himself.

“Dad’s probably the one providing most of these unknown seeds,” Ramona muses as she gathers some seeds she couldn’t identify. She dumps them all in her pocket.

“What? You mean grandpa? I didn’t know he used to work here.”

Ramona smiles, remembering the times her father ranted about ‘those good-for-nothing-fools-in-labcoats. “He doesn’t.”

All that heavy work in carrying crates of produce got Ramona thinking that she should be buff by now, but is greatly disappointed that she isn’t. She plans to change that.

The old exercise DVDs that have been passed down from mother to daughter to sister for many, many chapters years ago still work, making Miranda realize how old she really is.

Another filler picture of Miranda having karaoke night with Rocco, because she hasn’t showed up much in recent chapters lately. She continues to live quietly, despite the recent attention around her memoir.

Most of these days, she pretty much does whatever she pleases, alternating between playing her guitar, writing a new book, visiting her older children and their families, and goofing around with her grandson and youngest children.

Rocco always tags along with grandma whenever she visits the rest of the family. He’s very fond of his cousins, and doesn’t mind it when Rissa suddenly dumps her youngest brother into his arms before rushing inside the house. She trusts Rocco’s ability to handle toddlers; the kid looks responsible enough.

At least little Neal looks happy to see him too.

As the new president of the art club, Rissa takes her new role very seriously by cramming on a piece she has to show off to her members tonight.

She will not be distracted by visiting cousins or by crying toddlers.

Rocco lets Brooks know what it’s like to see Gaby’s performances. In his eyes, his mother looks like she has always belonged on the stage, and she seems different somehow.

“Mom has the best voice ever, I bet she’s no. 1 singer in the world!” Rocco declares strongly; he has always admired Gaby, and isn’t embarrassed to hide it.

His cousin doesn’t care much for celebrities, but he agrees that his aunt sings really well. Brooks nods absently in response as he focuses on which piece to move first.

While the boys play chess, they exchange curious stares at the other visitor, Irma Vasquez, who Rissa let inside for some reason?

Apparently she’s here to receive the pieces that she commissioned from Rissa, who is pleased that she didn’t have to go to Irma’s house to deliver them. Maybe she isn’t too bad?

A new park was opened right next to the coffee shop just last night. It features a lot of playground equipment, space for kids to run around, a fantastic view of the ocean, and comfy seating for parents to rest on. Gaby knows that Rocco will love it here, and is already making plans about visiting this place with the whole family.

She runs into her sister-in-law Lacey, who’s also making the same plans for her own family. Araceli’s energy is too much to contain even in their big house, which sometimes leads to sibling squabbles, but the new park provides them a new place to ship their kid off to, and a new place to separate the two from each other.

“I’m glad Araceli’s close with her cousins,” Lacey confides. “Lukas and I were worried that she’s too energetic for the other kids.”

“Araceli’s the sweetest though,” Gaby reassures her. “She actually keeps the boys in check whenever things turn too rowdy. It’s cute to see her being the leader in their little group.”

The two women hug after Lacey lets her know about all the new stupid things Lukas has gotten himself into. Gaby appreciates the gossip.

Rocco’s room is cozy enough for one sim, if one doesn’t mind all the green.

It’s a bit cramped for three sims, but these three have been inseparable for a while now. The kids don’t mind having to walk over each other to get to the bathroom, whether intentional or on purpose.

Sometimes only Brooks visits the house, since Rocco is a better playmate compared to a busy older sister or a babbling baby brother.

Rocco’s ghost stories are his 2nd favorites. His no. 1 favorite is actually his sister’s, but that’s a secret.

Sometimes only Araceli visits the house so they could play video games. She doesn’t really understand Brook’s phobia, but knows well enough not to insist him into joining.

But whenever all three of Rocco’s cousins are around, there’s never a dull moment in the house. Sometimes Rocco wishes they can just stay here forever, instead of having to go back to their respective houses and beg their parents for another sleepover.

Araceli briefly holds sympathy for her studious big brother, and wishes her cousins could shut up for a moment.

Araceli glares at them while the boys wave their cardboard sticks. “You all look ridiculous.”

She’s annoyed that she couldn’t find her costume in Rocco’s treasure chest, but she knows that these two idiots are hiding it somewhere. Rocco, on his good conscience, insists that they didn’t do anything, unaware that Brooks is the true culprit.

(Author’s note: Just a chapter featuring ALL the cousins of the Ramos family. I’m really fond of all of them, and I don’t think I can let them go once Rocco finally takes over :(((

I’ve spent a lot of time planning for which cousin should I allow to spawn, since it’d be a shame that their lines would remain empty, though that would require some micromanaging on my part. But I’ll make it work out! I’m pretty far ahead in the actual game, and I hope I could catch up writing the next chapters soon)