Have you ever tried to get on a bus holding a diaper bag, a kid, AND a stroller? I have, and it is not nearly as easy as you might think.

Due to that, Kelsey and I limited our walks to the surrounding couple miles. Not too bad since we live in Lower Queen Anne (a great Seattle neighborhood). Weíve got plenty to do, and you can walk a storller on the monorail by the Space Needle w/o folding it up. This is our key to getting to places like Pioneer Square, Pike Market, etcÖ

See, in Seattle it rains (and rains and rains and rainsÖ) Our main stroller has a built in rain shield for those daily moments when the rain just starts to pour from the sky. Itís also a bit heavy and hard to sling over your shoulder. Ok, you canít, since it has two handles instead of the cross bar that most storllers have.

However, I started to think about the places I donít go because I donít take the bus with Kelsey. Since teh monorail doesnít go towards Ballard, the UW, Fremont, and more, I got determined to come up with a solution. Now that the sun is coming out more regularly, weíve swapped the bigíun stroller for the ultra lite 6 pound Graco Citi-Lite.

Now I just use a backpack for diaper bag pluse out and about supplies (food, liquids, reading, etcÖ) and bring the baby sling. When the bus is down the road, the sling goes on, the backpack over it, and Kelsey gets in the sling. The only thing left to do is fold up the stroller (which you can do one-handed WITHOUT bending over) and throw it over my shoulder. I parcticed it at home, and it works pretty darn well.

Yeah, we could drive, but why? Walking is so much more enjoyable.