Do you ever find a product in your life that isn’t quite working for you, and embark on an exhaustive search to find just the right version that will fulfill all your deepest consumer desires?
No?
Well, with my obsessive mind, this is a frequent occurrence for me. Baby carriers. Red lipstick. Jeans.
And strollers. Double strollers, actually.
When Ian was an only child, I had stroller peace. When he was small enough for a baby carrier, we used a BabyTrend Snap n’ Go frame and loved it. It was small enough to fit easily into the hatch of our VW Golf and light enough that I could lift it after my C-section.
As Ian grew out of the infant carrier, we researched our next step. We had planned a trip to visit Paul’s sister in Vienna, so we needed a lightweight stroller that would be convenient for overseas travel. Travel message boards told me that a Maclaren umbrella stroller would be steady enough to drive over cobblestones in Europe and small enough to easily gate check while boarding an airplane. We got the Maclaren. It was wonderful. It even had a strap, so Paul could fold the stroller and throw it over his shoulder whenever we encountered stairs.
When David came along, I entered double stroller territory. As much as I loved the Maclaren, I wanted another stroller into which I could snap an infant carrier. We liked the idea of a stroller that could adapt as our children grew, so we purchased a BabyTrend Sit n’ Stand.
Hoss. Hoss of a stroller. That thing was so heavy. Sure, it was versatile. I could snap the carrier into it when David was little and switch him to a regular seat as he grew older. The regular seat for Ian in the back converted into a standing board for him once he was bigger. But I had to dismantle the thing to get it into my trunk.
So the search began again. By this point David was big enough for an unbrella stroller, and my mom found a great Chicco double umbrella stroller for a steal at a consignment sale. I was so relieved. It was lightweight and easy to fold. It didn’t have the maneuverability of our beloved Maclaren, but it was a great stroller for going around town.
Until Ian outgrew it a few months later.
Continued in Stroller Strategies, Part 2.
Jeep! I’m all about Jeep strollers. We got a Jeep umbrella stroller at a yard sale (along with several other second hand random strollers) and it’s by far my favorite. It sounds just like your MacLaren minus the strap. A friend with 3 kids 3 and under has a Jeep double that she uses all the time. (She also has some kind of sit and stand that she rarely uses.) They manuever easily (even in grass), have tall handles, fold easily, are light weight. I have sworn to never buy another brand of stroller ever again.
The Jeep strollers always looked to me like they would be good on all sorts of terrain! Those tires look tough. Glad to hear they are lightweight, too!