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You get great boxes. Let me explain…

The previous hicksdesign workhorse, a 17” ex-Dunstan powerbook, had to be sent away twice to be fixed with Applecare. Once to get the bluetooth module replaced, then second time to replace the screen (which was meant to be done the same time as the Bluetooth, but they forgot I think).

This left me with 2, very sturdy, boxes crammed with various foam & polystyrene packing bits. Until last week, they’d been sitting under my desk, waiting for some action. It finally occurred to me to take them home and get some children action on them.

So here’s what we did (or rather what ‘I’ did, as it did become a bit of a ‘Daddy obsession’). By taping the boxes together, and unfolding the ends of the boxes we made our very own pirate ship!

The bamboo cane mast, brown parcel tape and paper flag made by Samantha were the only materials that didn’t come from those Applecare boxes. The foam bags made great sails, and the pimply foam blocks looked like waves crashing against the boat. The whole thing took less than an hour, which could have been faster without Daniel leaping on top of me every few minutes. We haven’t tackled painting it yet, that might be a task too far.

Samantha and Daniel loved it (for a day at least), and it was strong enough for Daniel to lie back on the stern. The only drawback is that our house is not exactly spacious, and the boat takes up most of the free floor space that we have here!