Newest running accessory

Since I finished the 5K without dying I decided to reward myself with something I've had my eye on for a while. I've been searching the classified ads and sales for a good double jogging stroller. Lately we have been jogging around the neighborhood pushing the kids in our borrowed, 8-year old, 50 pound tandem stroller. If you can even get them IN the stroller without going the rounds over who gets the back seat, you then have to push around a 90-pound behemoth that is always pulling hard to the left. My shoulders are going to look like Joe's before long. So finally I got him to research the side-by-side joggers and he settled on this beauty.


Incidentally, after spending the morning at Babies R Us, can I just say NO FAIR!? There were not this many cute things when I had babies (not really that long ago). Look at this! And this and this! Apparently the new trend of "babies as Hollywood starlet accessories" has made the baby-gear designers really step it up. When I was pregnant with Minnie you basically had three color choices for everything: Basic Black, Navy n' Khaki (makes me think of a prep school uniform) and Winnie the Pooh Pastel. So we own a lot of black stuff. But now... pack-n-plays, bedding, strollers, bouncy seats... everything is so darn cute and fashionable!

Anyway, back to our stroller. How cool is this!? Minnie was highly offended that we didn't purchase the ridiculously overpriced Maclaren umbrella stroller that came in her favorite colors of brown and pink. I'm sorry, but for that price the stroller had better come with a jet propulsion system or a private jacuzzi or something.

My secondary motive here is this: we are going to Disneyland in October. Last time we took two small umbrella strollers and while they are easy to get in and out of cars, airports and doorways... there's still no place to PUT anything! Hanging a diaper bag off the back made the whole stroller tip over whenever a kid jumped out of it. Plus I spent an hour sitting under the Tarzan tree with the stroller tipped back in my lap while Little Man napped.


Our new stroller one has reclining seats, storage baskets, cup holders and even a speaker that connects to your iPod! I think the only thing that could make it better is a 3-inch-thick, toddler-proof plastic barrier between the two seats, perhaps with a speaker that repeats subliminal messages like "don't hit your brother don't hit your brother don't hit your brother..." Because, as handy as this is, I definitely foresee problems having them side-by-side. Well, either way, I'm really excited about this and I can't wait to get out and use it!