Water/Ice, I'm confused

gday guys...
this questions has been troubling me for ages, i know the answer will be really simple, but thanks in advanced for your answers/replies.

How come when i freeze water in my freezer, the ice takes up a larger volume of space than what the water did before it was frozen? its the opposite to what i would have assumed.
Doesnt the 'states' of matter go like this?

gas- are well separated with no regular arrangement.
liquid- are close together with no regular arrangement.
solid- are tightly packed, usually in a regular pattern.

thanks in advanced guys.

The bonds made to make the solid are wider spaced than they are in the liquid form (hexagon, sort of like forming a circle)....which is the only reason why life on this planet is pratical (it makes ice float, so it's more likely to thaw out instead of fill the bottom of the ocean with ice sludge)

jlc163 is right...when water crystallizes into ice the crystal form leaves a lot of empty space in between the molecules, making ice less dense than liquid water.

.
As far as i know water/ice is the only substance with this non-standard quality. [ice/solid lighter than liquid]

I believe when ice gets really cold it does eventually contract more than liquid water and then it sinks.

[edit on 8-2-2005 by slank]

water's not the only one. i just came across another last week. i was supprised to find out that there was another besides water that expanded when it became a solid