Last Friday I’d been trying to catch up on things around the house and completely lost track of the time until just before I was supposed to pick Isak up from his science class. I scooped a sleeping baby off the couch, popped her into the stroller, and tore down the hill, then suddenly thought (completely out of the blue), “Woah, it would be terrible if one of the wheels popped off the stroller right now!” and tightened my grip on the handle bar.

Within 60 seconds, as I was running pell-mell down the grassy hill, the front right wheel suddenly exploded sideways and flew off. Because I was gripping the handle uncommonly tight, I was able to keep it from going over and popped a wheelie the rest of the way, but the wheel itself was toast, and it could have been very dangerous if the stroller had flipped. One of the other moms came back after dropping her kids at home and gave us (and our crippled stroller) a lift home, and the quest for a new stroller began.

We did a lot of research, read reviews, hit numerous stores, kicked countless tires, and debated getting one from craigslist, but ultimately decided to buy a new Baby Trend jogging stroller (the Expedition Sport).

Plusses were size, ease (pushing/folding up), decent tires (the front swivels but can be locked as well), storage (basket underneath and a closing area up top), good seat support (up & down), an adjustable bonnet, double snack/drink trays, easy safety harness, removable/washable parts, a comfy grip (pet peeve: I loathe the feel of dry foamy handles), good for up to 50 pounds, and a decent price. I’ll miss the old Graco, but this one will do nicely.

Honestly, it’s like buying a car, I wish there were less choices, but we like this one, and fortunately don’t feel we need to keep up with the Joneses and their $1000 strollers with leather leg cozies and no-spill latte protectors. It went together very easily and we took it out for an all terrain spin yesterday. Thumbs up for Iris’ new wheels! 9 months ago