We love our... - part 1

I know that we go to the grave with nothing, but as every active parent will tell you, your stroller makes or breaks you. Back in 2004, after some months of humming and haahing (it is us after all), we bought a high end sturdy umbrella stroller (i.e. very portable and foldable). It's been great and survived many, many trips of varying sorts, as well hundreds of thousands of pounds of shopping (it has a great undercarriage basket, and non-human cargo (in fact, taking it from the store, I carried Sebastian in his snuggly and loaded other shopping on the stroller!).

OK, so the rain hood got mishapen after about 4 weeks (M recently admitted to having closed the trunk of the car on it...) and Seb in a terrible two tantrum destroyed the clip on, wind-resistant rain shield but that's minor. But we bumped it and lugged it and pushed it everywhere for 4 1/2 years.

It was ours - all ours. Our friend Jeet could pick it out of line-up by the sweat stains that Seb's baby head had made when we lived in sticky Accra.

Last autumn, faced with the prospect of another Saint John winter - i.e. mammoth snowfalls leading to huge snowbanks at intersections across town, we broke down and bought a 2nd hand jogging stroller. With huge wheels and the ability for Seb to perch on the front as well, we nicknamed it the SUV. But it just wasn't the same.

By June, our lovely umbrella stroller was starting to rattle, wobble and look down right funny as we parambulated our way around southern Ontario. Plus, it had developed a certain waywardness that would have it going in directions that you had not anticipated (sort of like the toddler using it). It was time to look at options.

Being a high end make (Maclaren, if you need to know), there were repair options in town - or - we could buy a new one for $210 (tax incl!) but for another 18 months that seemed excessive - or - we could buy one on e-bay - but they never came down to the "right" price unless it was fuschia. So a fixer upper and enviro option it was.

100 dollars and 2 difficult-to-get-on-transit-and-get-about weeks later, we got it back. It was as if one of the family was returning. It looks great (we even splurged for the hood to be fixed so we don't look so whacky) and spins in all the right directions. Maybe we will even invest in new reflective tape to cover over the sweatmarks (I mean Soph should have her own chance at marking her territory, right?).

We are one happy strolling family coming soon to a neighbourhood near you!