About a month ago we finally broke down and bought a 2nd stroller for traveling. After much back and forth I decided on the maclaren quest (over the uppa baby gluxe) We had originally planned to buy one back in may but considering all the obsessing over my main stroller, 4 months wasn’t really all that bad. The biggest deciding factor was that we were leaving for Montreal in a few days and the maclaren was in stock.
My report on the quest:
Pros:
Its light (especially if you’ve been driving a tank for 14 months)
It has a carrying strap
Cons:
Its not for tall people, our feet hit the bar and the handles are way too low
It doesnt seem that comfy for Asher
Its not THAT easy to close
It rides like crap on the city streets
You have to use 2 hands to steer
It tips over easily
The basket is a joke
So yeah, WAY more cons than pro but I have a feeling thats more to do with the fact that its a lightweight umbrella stroller and not a beefcake strolling stroller.
Would I use this for everyday? No way. I walk 2-3 miles a day on average, and this thing is not meant for that, its pretty obvious.
It is a dream for travel though, and much easier to throw in and out of the car. I find that we still use the Vista 99% of the time. Its just much better for tall people, 1 handed steering, maneuvering weird city blocks, off-roading in the park and schlepping groceries home from the market. If you don’t have to do that on a daily basis the maclaren is a great option and I love having a choice of what to use.
Now I’m just waiting for the Vista to break/get stolen/disappear so I can get me a 2010 Bee.
Asher loves counting to 3 and then having something OUTRAGEOUS happen so this weekend we taught him the seasonally appropriate “1…2…3…Boo!”
Its not high on his list, he much prefers the old classic “1…2…3…TICKLE!” and has been really enjoying “1…2…3…AHHHHHH!” which he does alll.day.long. Its not just screaming, he usually jumps up and down and waves his hands around for full effect.
He can’t really count but he sticks his finger out and goes “feee…feee…feee. AHHHHHH” just kind of randomly throughout his day. Especially if you accidentally start counting something.
He didn’t really get the whole Halloween thing, which I am not surprised by. We didn’t decorate or watch any E-l-m-o videos about it so how would he know. Well I’m not one of those super excited about holidays people plus I am very anti-costume, especially nasty nylon things that cost lots of money. Buuuuuut I hear sometimes you have to do things you don’t want so he was going to have some kind of costume (for free.)
This year I looked at the clothes in his drawer and decided “Rock Star”
Initially I thought I’d iron on a fake band logo, and could do fake backstage passes for me and Matthew but that would take a whole hour of my time so I passed on that idea.
Instead I found this cute guitar tee and his guitar sweatshirt, cool jeans, and chucks. We did spend $10 on the guitar but he LOVES it so its money well spent. Unless you have ear drums and musical taste, then its questionable at best.
We went to a party thrown by one of the Moms (same as last year) and besides seeing loads of adorable dressed up babyfriends they have the great fortune to live on a Halloween Block. which means pretty much every single house gets decorated and the whole block dressed up and hangs out outside.
For real, this was the view from the front door.
People just sit on ther stoops and hand out candy all day. Sometimes cotton candy!
After going down 1 whole side of the street and halfway up the opposite side he realized he could say “Hi!” to all of these people, they give him a shiny thing or 2 and he could wave and say “BAH” and EVERYONE WAS REALLY HAPPY TO SEE HIM. He could even hand his shiny thing to daddy before moving on to the next salutation.
Well forget it. That made his day.
He really started to take on the role
A groupie even showed up in the same exact outfit trying to get his autograph the whole time, it really added to the whole rock star thing.
He lasted a while before he decided to say “BAH” to the Halloween shenanigans and walk all the way home.
For Matthew’s birthday he got this awesome new guitar.
Its all black and pretty badass so we call it Cash. More importantly, I signed him up for beginning guitar lessons, something he has talked about doing for years. He’s taking them with Pete, Asher’s Music teacher.
We took a ride up to Montreal this weekend to visit my sister-in-law Theresa and her family. As always, we had an awesome time just hanging out, laughing, eating good food and staying up too late. It was especially fun since it was the first time the kids were old enough to acknowledge each other. I can honestly say I do not know which one of the two were more excited to see the other in the morning.
Our weekend was filled with screams of “ASH-AY!” from my niece Liliane who turns 3 in October. Lucky for her they are coming to see us next month…Or should I say lucky for Theresa and her husband Stephane. Asher had a blast playing with her toys and flashing his cheesy new grin at her.
There is a wading pool a short walk from their apartment so we headed over for a dip. Unfortunately I imagined a much smaller pool that Asher could sort of crawl in and out of and neither Matthew or I were prepared for the soaking that ensued. Matthew especially wasn’t prepared to fall while stepping into it, and I sadly wasn’t prepared with my video camera in hand.
Much time was spent in PJs and it took a bit of juggling to manage 2 nap and sleep schedules (a nice lesson for all)
On the last day I tried to get a great picture to cherish for years to come. Instead I got these:
Last month we did a photoshoot with the adorable Efrain and Jenn at J’adore Love Photography. They are wedding photographers trying to build up their baby portfolio and we were happy to help! Here are some of the teasers, we are really looking forward to seeing the rest.
Can you believe the Olympics are over? Its such a let down after all these days of excitement. I kept thinking “I wish the olympics were always on!” but who has the time?? I stayed up way too late every night and went to work with an olympic hangover. Plus our TV must be so relieved. That thing got a work out this month! We barely turn the TV on normally, and then we are watching 5hrs a day? Its kind of nice that I won’t feel the pressure to watch, but also sad. I know you know what I’m feelin.
The olympics were even a bit more exciting this year, being in Matthew’s hometown. Not to mention his dad and a whole bunch of our friends were working there so the emails, tweets, status updates and phone calls really kept us in the loop.
Asher supported his brothers and sisters from the north by showing his Canadian pride at mealtimes
We’re grooming him for a life in sports, obviously.
OWN THE PODIUM! or the bumbo. Whatever.
On another note
Due to my lameness in posting I decided to challenge myself and do another round of NaBloPoMo. If you remember November, it means I have to post every day for the month of March. This is going to be super scary and intense because I am going onsite on Friday and will be working 16hr days all of next week. In another country. Hopefully I can write up some posts in advance!
Expect to be seeing some flashback photos from the past 10 weeks – I definitely slacked on a bunch of cute moments. I can’t wait to share them with you.
