A big thank you to Annie Mitchell of Mrs. Meyers and her AMAZING “Random Acts of Cleanliness” team for coming out today and scrubbing our San Francisco shop top to bottom! We had so much bubbly fun together that we wish they could be here everyday!

Everything looks absolutely incredible and smells heavenly. We love Mrs. Meyers!!!

***Be sure to check them out this weekend, July 30-31st at the Berkeley Kite Festival. Bring the whole family and learn to make and fly a kite at one of the kid-friendly demonstrations and check out the incredible skills of the Japanese Kite Flying Team – it’s sure to be a high flying time!

Yes, my friends, it has finally arrived: the funnest, most colorful, yumm-o-licious stroller on the block

– The Dylan’s Candy Bar Volo by Maclaren!

It has all of the great features that you would expect from Maclaren: versatile, light-weight, easy to fold, well made…but now all of that quality goodness is surrounded by a bright candy shell!

We absolutely love the Water-Proof Candy-Spill Rain-Cover with a menagerie of sour fruits, gummy bears and cherries and big, colorful swirly suckers. The reversible seat cover also dons two crossed lollipops and is as practical as it is pleasing as it can be removed for a gentle hand-wash in the time that it takes to uncurl a licorice wheel – yippee!

I can’t wait to get this out on the road – I just wish that I had been able to stroll the baby in it to Isadora’s 5th Candyland birthday last Fall!

XO,

Jamie

About 3 years ago I was strolling with my son through Union Square in San Francisco when a woman ran toward me. She bent down like she was going to get my grab my son and at the last minute made a grab for the bag hanging from the handle bar brake. Luckily I screamed something unrecognizable at her and scared her away but the lessons that I learned that day were plenty fold. Here is what I took from my scary experience:

1) Strap your child in the stroller every time, every where you go, for no matter how short the distance.

I was only making a short stroll and my only concern at the time was my son falling out. He was plenty secured in a cozy Bundle Me so I didn’t think to strap him in as a defense. Now my children are always snapped in tight.

2) Keep your eyes open at all times – even in the “safest” neighborhoods.

I had just walked through the Tenderloin, one of the roughest parts of SF, and when I reached posh Union Square I breathed a sigh of relief and let my guard down. I was surrounded by upscale shops at every corner and never thought that I would be accosted there. It turned out that as a mom I was a prime target with my little one being my greatest concern and my baggage/purse hanging off of the stroller – a mere afterthought. What the woman did by pretending to reach for my son and then making a grab at my purse was actually pretty smart. Now try to travel lightly with just the necessities and very little cash (very pre baby . When I do actually have baggage I stow it away snugly in the under seat bag. One mom that I know even wears a cross bag – but I just hate to be weighed down!

Which brings me to…

3) Don’t hang your purse or shopping bags on your stroller handle bar! I know that it can be tempting to hang your purse on your handlebar brake (the accessibility is unbeatable) but it is only a welcome sign for muggers like the woman mentioned above. This also goes for popping goods inside of the stroller seat. If you must, use the leash on your stroller (if you have one) and also flip the toddler seat to face you (if possible). The benefits of the accessibility are heavily outweighed by the vulnerability of your belongings. Also, from a mechanical standpoint, (and you know that we just had to add this) over time the extra weight on the handlebar will quickly wear down your chassis/frame and you will eventually shorten your stroller lifetime – just our 2 cents

Did we miss anything? Has anything like this every happened to you? Please share so that we all can be better prepared to protect our belongings, ourselves and most importantly, our little ones.