What do you do for a 14 year old boys birthday????

My husband reminded me the other day that I should really blog about something really really nice that we did during half term.  How remiss of me not to have shared it with you.

I saw an amazing picture on a friends facebook page recently, she had taken her newly turned 14 year old son and his older sister to a place in Basingstoke where you can do indoor skydiving.

Now I have a confession to make - I have always wanted to skydive and do a wing walk on an aeroplane.  I can't explain why - my counsellor reckons it is probably something to do with the feeling of freedom that these activities might give me.  Anyhow, with all my health issues and with what has been going on in my family over the last 5 years, putting any desires like these out there has been impossible.

Then half term came, along with my sons 14th birthday.  He isn't a hugely social lad, he has a small good bunch of friends, but he is also very happy playing on his computer, games console, etc (like so many others it seems).  In previous years we have let him go out bowling with a couple of friends, or to the cinema and then getting a take-out - that sort of thing.  This year he didn't seem to be showing any great desire to do these things.

Can you see where this is going????????  I made the suggestion that maybe he would like to go and do the indoor skydiving thing - well that impressed him no end.  When I asked if he fancied doing it all together as a family (including his little sister) I was absolutely delighted when he said yes.

So it was booked a couple of days before and despite little sisters nerves we all looked forward to it.

And I have to say it did not disappoint any of us.

Yes it was pricey, but then we had kept presents to a minimum and this was the big treat of the holidays as well as for my sons birthday.  Would you like to see some photo's?

First we had to have our hands stamped (after completing very large risk disclaimers!).

Here is the birthday boy

He got the hang of it very quickly, the second picture shows him going off for a tandem ride up to the top of the wind tunnel with the instructor - we all got to do that once we had mastered the art of  'flying'

Next to have a turn was my hubby - it appeared to be much more difficult for us 'oldies' than the children - something to do with relaxing and being bendy I think!

Next it was my turn!  The instructor was so nice, I was a little concerned that he might grab me to harshly by the arms or legs (as it seemed he had been doing with some others we watched) which would have rattled my joints, but a quick chat and he made sure he held me just by my suit.

And lastly it was the little sisters turn, she had taken so much convincing that she would be okay doing it, reassuring her right up to the last minute that she could pull out (but we wouldn't let her pull out before doing the safety briefing and getting dressed up).  She loved it and being so light, kept flying away!

I was so exhilarated afterwards, and the photo below shows my son with a smile - not something that he easily gives away these days.

 I think his Dad rather enjoyed himself too.

So much fun and then I had the thrill of putting photo's on facebook and surprising everyone that I had done it to - I didn't realise that it would be such a surprising thing!

This week I have also hit 28,000 page views on this blog, with the number of posts that averages out to about 85 per post.  Goodness me!  Thank you for popping by!