What About BOB?

Today was the day - we finally got our BOB duallie (double stroller) from REI.  Their Fall sale started yesterday, so we headed out to our local REI to pick up the mother of all strollers.  Until today, I have been doing my walks pushing the babies in our Double Snap-N-Go - basically a frame stroller that our infant carriers can snap into.  While the Snap-N-Go is very convenient with the snap-in infant seats, it's not the smoothest ride for a long walk (between 2.5 and 3.5 miles), and it is very heavy to push.  With the BOB, it's like riding on air.  It literally almost moves on its own without any effort from me or Jason.

We called ahead to be sure our REI had the stroller we wanted, and we found out that they are 15% off during the sale.  This is actually a bad thing, because REI gives each member a 20% off coupon that they can use on any non-sale item.  With the 15% off, you can't use the coupon.  Apparently, this is the way that they are going to do it from now on.  The sales clerk at REI today said that they did this because they realized that they were losing a lot of money with the 20% off coupons during the sale.  He said that the BOBs are the #1 item that REI sells during their Spring and Fall sales.

So, when we got to REI, we were ready to pay the 15% off price.  They only had two floor models left (none in stock in the back), and the one that we wanted had a small tear on the foam around the handle.  Because of this, we got an extra 5% off, so we really ended up with the 20% off price anyway - whoohoo!!  (These stroller are expensive, so an extra 5% is something to get mildly excited about.)  The other wonderful thing about these strollers is that you can resell them on Craigslist for nearly as much as you paid for them, if they are well maintained.  We're already thinking ahead, of course.  ;-)

The newest version of the BOB has a quick-release button that allows you to easily get your children out of the stroller.  The problem with this design is that a child with any dexterity can very easily release their harness if they just learn to press the one button.  Because of this, we opted for the "old" version of the BOB which includes the slightly trickier harness clips.  I'm hopeful that this keeps Miles and Vivienne from escaping the harnesses and then freeing their sibling while I'm in the middle of a run! =)

You're really not supposed to ride a baby in the BOB until they have good head and neck control.  Miles and Vivienne are 12 weeks old tomorrow, and they are still working on good head control.  Miles has very strong muscles, and he has a pretty good handle on his head movements now.  Vivienne is coming along as well, but she still bobbles her head around quite a bit.  We sat them both in the stroller with the 5-point harnesses, and they seemed to be comfortable and well supported, so we decided to take them for a short walk to see how they did.  I think they'll be fine using the new stroller for our walks.  We'll probably still use the old Snap-N-Go for being out and about, though, because popping the infant carriers out of the car and into the Snap-N-Go without having to pick the babies up (and possibly wake them up) is so convenient.




I'm in love with someone, and his name is "BOB"...