Why

Because Im not like anyone else.

Nor is my family.

Other families sit around watching tv.

We screach at ours while playing our wii or ps2.

Other kids have new bikes for xmas.

We get a pile of new bits and some help building one unique for us.

The other kids throw theirs away when the tyres go flat.

We know how to fix ours.

Other families spend their hols sitting around bored, then having a weekend away somewhere.

We go climb a mountain, or go canoeing, or go windsurfing, or go hammocking, or go crashing - or sailing as dad calls it, or go mountain biking in the forests....

We keep our rucksacks, hammocks and sleeping bags in the car all the time - ready for when dad yells "Are you ready?" Holiday time to us is any time when there is no school tomorrow.

Our homelife

Dad wants to use his new axe. We want him to leave it in the shed.

When something in the house needs painting or a new laminate floor need laying, we usually do it to stop him breaking anything. He usually offers to help, but makes more mess than we do.

 Dad can cook anything until its crunchy and black.

Food tastes better if we learn to cook it ourselves.

We clear up once a week.

We do our rooms as fast as possible as dad is desperate to help.

He just opens a window and clears up - or out.

It takes ages to carry our stuff back in, so we make sure we do it before he gets to help

When we find dad wandering around looking for his tools, we want to know what he is doing. Last time he went looking for a hacksaw, the batteries had gone flat on the tv remote. He wanted to saw it in half to get the batteries out.

He has now been sailing for a year and has reached the stage where he can tell what colour buoy he has just hit by the BOOOONNNG. Seems yellow ones are a lower note than red and green ones.

I can build a boat and want to build one that I dont have to keep fixing.

I will build it strong enough that it will be dad proof - or as near as I can get it.

Then we can all go having adventures that do not involve drowning.

As the sun goes down while I am laying on a beach somewhere looking at my boat, I will be able to look back at my day and think I did that!

Its going to be exciting!