It's Friday. Yes. A legitimate Friday with a weekend to follow! Last weekend, my husband worked, so it feels like this has been the most continuous, long week ever.
Monday, we decided we needed an adventure. A friend was in town and invited us to go on a ferry ride to Sausalito and I had thoughts of Kate Beckinsale in Serendipity circa 2000, taking in the perfect city as she flawlessly looked into the distance, so we agreed to go. "We" is two little tag-teaming troublemakers directly prior to lunchtime, until approx. after naps. It was chaos of epic proportions, let me tell you. Sometimes I think I'm more capable than I actually am.
Our sit-and-stand stroller was a dream for about four months. Things began going south after that... a broken basket below, foamy pushing surface falling off, and our final straw... a wheel that falls off when we lift for any reason. As you can imagine, we lift our stroller up and down excessively, so... yes, it's a little embarrassing when I have a runaway wheel. On this particular day, our trusty Maclaren single-stroller went to work in the car with my husband, so I had no choice. To the north bay with a testy stroller we went. The wheel fell off more times than I can quite remember, and if I didn't have a conscience for my fellow humans, I would have abandoned that beast on the side of the road. I'm being quite literal.
I took a lot of pictures that look like the entire experience was straight-up bliss. It was definitely fun, but my lack of prep and "make-do" mentality way more stressful than I would have thought! If you are going to be taking a ferry in San Francisco to Sausalito alone with two kids, please heed this advice so you can most thoroughly enjoy the beautiful experience:
- Take the lightest weight stroller ever. There are stairs on the ferry that you'll have to maneuver once each way.
- If it's windy, mentally plan on sitting inside. It looks waaaayyy better outside, but the kids were literally blowing away from me. No bueno.
- Remember to feed your children prior to leaving the house.
- Dress in layers because you'll freeze on the ferry, then likely get really warm in Sausalito.
All that said, it has the potential of being an easy jaunt if you're well prepared. Sausalito is such a charming little town, with little cafes, delis, tourist shops, candy shops, and most importantly: an ice cream shop. Everything comes with a side of an amazing view... it's undeniably gorgeous. When we go (generally by car), we always feel as if we've been teleported to a whole new world of vacation mode, even though it's literally less than 15 minutes from the city.
Here are a few pictures from the ferry. :)
Happy Weekend!
Love,
Kate
PS. If you can recommend any amazing city strollers that have those stand-on features for bigger kids, please let me know! We are in the market for a new stroller, for obvious reasons. xoxox
