A Festival Day Out

Summer in Hidden Springs was coming to an end, in only a couple of weeks they would be into the uncertain weather of autumn.  In these last balmy days of the year, as was traditional, the summer Beryl Forest festival was on.

An ideal opportunity for a family fun day out.  Malia arranged a babysitter for Dolly so that she, Carl and Debra could take advantage of a full day's leisure.

It was Debra's birthday in a few days time and they weren't going to be able to afford a big party so Carl and Malia let their little girl decide on all the activities for the day.  As soon as they got to the festival ground Debra knew exactly what she wanted ... Water Fight!!

Lining up against her parents Debra was going to enjoy soaking them!

Her first shot was spectacular.  Looking at Carl as she learnt back to give her shot as much power as she could ... she suddenly switched aim ...

... and Malia, taken completely taken by surprise and hit square in the chest was bowled right over!

As she got to her feet, vainly attempting to shake the water from here dress out Carl and Debra were rocking with laughter.

A couple more well aimed water bags and Debra managed to score hits on both her parents, getting them properly soaked.

Eventually, of course, it was Debra's turn to be the target.

But, as hard as they tried, neither Carl nor Malia were quick or accurate enough to get a direct hit as she easily ducked behind the wooden barrier.

Having exhausted the supply of water balloons, the girls sent Carl off to get some snacks while they had a little shoot-out competition.

Debra was taking it very seriously.  Carefully placing the ball and lining up to send the ball exactly where she wanted it to go.

Malia's time on the home exerciser paid off here as she was quite quick and agile enough to get to every ball that her daughter sent goal-wards. 

... and Debra's disappointment continued when she took her place in goal and tried to stop Malia's shots.

Malia's competitive nature came to the fore and gave poor Debra no chance at stopping the ball.  Well, it did seem a fair response to the earlier soaking!

Not that Debra could stay despondent for long, not when Daddy hands over her favourite ice lolly; a Rainbow Rocket!

Even better, Malia gave her a couple of tokens for the face painting booth where she could get made up as a Princess Debra of the Starways!

While their daughter was being transformed into an astral princess Carl and Malia shared a few minutes alone together...

Newly decorated Debra wanted to finish their day on the skating rink that was the big feature of the summer fair

Debra had roller-skated a little before but the smooth rink surface was faster than she was used to and the other people in close proximity unnerved her a bit.

Gradually, however, her confidence improved and although she came close to losing her balance a few times not once did she actually fall to the floor.

Of course it also helped that Carl was pretty good on skates and was always nearby ... just in case.

For all her general athletic prowess Malia was not as comfortable on wheels as her husband so was slower and much more cautious but nonetheless enjoyed being able to spend this time together as a family.

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Inevitably, their day out came to an end; tired but happy they returned home after a day of fun, laughs and the occasional drenching.

Naturally the first thing to do when they got home was to check that little Dolly had also had a fun day under the care of the babysitter.

Smiling and giggling, it seems that she'd had a good day too.

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Author's Note: Malia's rather lovely floral dress was created by SimDetails and can be downloaded from The Sims Resource.