A new Graco stroller for us

Parenthood welcomes into homes a whole lot of stuff along with baby. We are blessed to 'inherit' lots of hand-me-downs including clothes, toys, books, playpen etc.

I believe we bought only 2 major items, one being the convertible babycot and the other, a reasonably good stroller. After doing a lot of research and homework, we settled on a Graco Citisport on sale at Safe 'n Sound 1Utama for RM469, in June 2005.

Over the next 5 years, this stroller went many places with us....

Bali 2006

Frasers Hill 2006

Joseph spent many hours in the stroller....drinking milk, sleeping etc...

When Joy-Anne arrived, he promptly vacated it for her. For the first 6 months, I carried Joy in the sarong sling while Joe still sat in the stroller when we went kai kai.

A'Famosa 2008

flying to Penang 2008

Though he sometimes complained that his legs got tired, Joe still graciously let his sister ride in the stroller.

In August 2008 we brought the stroller halfway around the globe to Hawaii!

In Hawaii, we bought a second stroller - the Combi Flare for USD82. After conversion, it amounted to about RM280 which is far cheaper than anything of that standard in Malaysia.

Waikiki 2008

Both strollers went to Melbourne with us - very useful.

Joy-Anne conveniently fell asleep in the stroller wherever we went. And pushing strollers is such a breeze in pedestrian-friendly Melbourne. It also doubled up as a comfy chair for their meals when we had picnics in parks.

Joy fell asleep while nibbling on a cheese stick, during one of our walks

The last foreign soil this Graco stroller touched was Singapore in June this year.

Joseph no longer sits in his stroller (the Combi Flare) when we go kai kai. But he still uses it as a 'cave' for sleeping when we go to church every week. Each kid sleeps in one stroller so we still need 2 strollers for 2 kids.

A few weeks ago, the 5-year-old Graco broke a cable just as we got home from church on a Saturday night. With the broken cable, the stroller can no longer be closed. It fits into the boot of the Wira when fully open but nothing else will go into the boot.

So I brought it back to GBS Marketing (the distributor for Graco in Malaysia) and they had the technicians look at it. The conclusion is that it can't be repaired.

I went stroller-shopping and bought the Graco Mosaic at the Parenthood Fair in Midvalley Exhibition Centre (that is currently happening 20-22 August 2010).I felt this was the best deal - best price for a stroller that best suits our needs and budget. RM499 from the original retail price of RM699. Large basket, reclines to 160degrees, removable front bar, 5-point harness and fairly affordable.

It's time to retire the Graco Citisport. After 5 years, 7 countries (including transit in Japan and Korea) over 3 continents on 6 airlines and lots and lots of mileage, I feel it's served us well and has been worth our money. I'm also thankful that the cable broke right at home and not when we were overseas.

The stroller is still functional. It just can't be closed flat. So if anyone has any idea how anyone can benefit from having it, I'll be glad to give it away.