Adventures Await

Every year at this time I pat myself on the back—one, because I’ve just pulled off two birthdays in a week, and two because I think I had my babies at the perfect time of year. I remember the first few days of May as I cocooned with my first daughter, drinking tea, welcoming visitors, having a few new mom tears, as the weather outside blustered undecidedly between sleet and the sunshine, taunting the buds whether they should come or go. And then, just I was coming out of my new mom fog, the world came alive—the sun came out, the blossoms burst, a beautiful green canopy was above us—and I was ready to show my baby the world.

It helped that it was one of the most beautiful summers on record—it went from mid-May well into October—and we did everything—long walks to the beach, exercising in the park, cappuccinos at sidewalk cafes, visits to office colleagues on the transit system, road trips. We kept busy while my husband was at work making the gravy, telling him our exciting adventures when he got home.

Without any over-sentimentality, I don’t remember it being just me and my new adventure buddy on those golden summer days…it was me, my buddy, and our Bugaboo stroller. There wasn’t a day I wished for another type of stroller, another feature—it seemed to accommodate our every need and adventure, even as we added a second buddy three years later and bought the extra wheeled board.

I guess everyone is looking for different features in a stroller but for us, living in a small house in downtown Toronto, we wanted something extremely mobile, durable, non-plastic and clunky, transit-friendly, and an all-in-one system—we didn’t have room for several strollers with different purposes. Personally, I had pram fantasies and was really attracted to the pram component of the Bugaboo system. My husband, on the other hand, was attracted to the sleek, modular Dutch styling—what man doesn’t like to talk about the “chassis”?

The Bugaboo system was perfect for us, letting us customize as we went, from car to street, to forest and beach, from infant to toddler and second child. And here’s how you do it.

Choose Your Chassis

Either standard 4-wheel or 3-wheel runner chassis, with adjustable handlebars.

Choose Your Seating Option

Go from car to stroller by clicking your car seat (adaptable with many brands) into the adaptors, choose the pram option for new and sleeping babies which doubles as a convenient travel cot, move up to the independent seat which is reversible (I remember just reversing the seat to change their view often settled my sometimes-fussy babies) with 6 positions (3 in each direction) and lasts from infant to toddler.

Choose Your Add-Ons

Make your Bugaboo stroller your own with a cool selection of add-ons including wool seat liners, footmuffs, blankets, snack trays, smartphone holders, tote bags, and tailored fabric sets.

The basic Bugaboo all-in-one set, now called the Cameleon³, includes the standard chassis, seat and pram, rain cover, sun canopy, and under seat bag, is less than two feet wide, and weighs 21 lbs. The fabric components are so easy to remove and wash, and I remember Bugaboo was so great about replacing a wheel we had worn out. We had to hunt down where to buy our Bugaboo in 2005 but Well.ca make it easy these days with the full line of Bugaboo systems, components, and add-ons.

And our beloved Bugaboo? It’s still going. I just saw it last week on my neighbour’s lawn ready again for adventures with a fifth child.

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Written by Kate MacDougall for Bugaboo

Kate MacDougall is a freelance marketing consultant and writer. She is a perfectly imperfect mother, paddle boarder, and gardener, figuring out her own style as she goes with equal measures of intuition and advice. She is forever planning her next adventure.