Stokke Trailz Parent Review

Quick Summary: Alas my time 'Living With' the Trailz™ is at an end. Mr. Trailz has been the man of my dreams (bar a few minor domestics!) throughout the last 6 months. He's seen us over grass, gravel, sand (in a fashion!), through plenty of snow and most certainly up hill and down dale. Without his super sized basket, life would have been much more difficult and his super comfy seat has seen Gus through hours of sleep as well as hours of giggles and chatter. Yes he's massive, but I've learn't to use that to my advantage - usually in the form of intimidating grumpy people who feel the pavement or supermarket aisle is not for sharing!

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First Impressions

The eagerly awaited Stokke® Trailz™ arrived on a very rainy Monday morning. The lorry was unsure about driving up our narrow lane so I had to drive to meet him in the village square. Nevertheless, I couldn't wait to unpack the boxes! Three boxes arrived in all. I couldn't contain my excitement and began to unpack them straight away!

Inside the boxes... the largest box contained the Stokke® Trailz™ chassis.  I was very impressed with how neat the packaging was, with minimal plastic. Everything was recyclable which I found fantastic. Stokke® are definitely a greener thinking company! The only assembling that was required, was for me to pop the wheels onto the frame, which was easily done in a matter of seconds. 

With a bit of a helping hand from Gus, I unpacked the second box which contained the Stokke® seat unit, which is compatible with the Trailz™, Crusi™ and Xplory®. The seat required a little more assembly than that of the chassis, with the sun canopy needing to be clipped on and the fabrics zipped on. But again, it was simple and took no more than five minutes. Also in the seat unit box came a bumper bar, newborn wedge, raincover and a mosquito net.

The instruction manuals were fantastic and so simple to follow with illustrated steps as opposed to endless lines of text.

The third and smallest box contained the Stokke® split leg footmuff. This is an additional extra that does not come as standard with the pushchair. Seeing as though it's winter, I thought it best we kept Gus wrapped up warm!

When all was finally set up, I stood  behind the handle bar and practiced my best pushchair pose! I was amazed at how huge the whole pushchair seemed. It reminded me of a Range Rover of the pushchair world! I was in heaven! The colour of the Trailz™ is 'black melange'- it is a stunning deep grey fabric with almost a tweed look about it. All of the tiny details on the seat unit caught my eye straight away but I'm sure I'll discuss them further down the line.

All in all, first impressions are that the Stokke® Trailz™ oozes quality and style and I can't wait to hit the great outdoors with it!

December 6th 2015

This week has been my first week getting out and about with the Trailz™. I've had the chance to walk the Trailz™ around the village and take it on several school runs.

Gus has been a big fan of the Trailz™ this week. He loves the high seat unit and is privvy to a whole new world of goings on that he must have missed by travelling in a slightly lower pushchair! He has the biggest smiles whilst sat in the seat of the Trailz™.

Happy Gus = Happy mummy! 

This week has consisted of rain, wind and yet more rain in Derbyshire, so whilst out on a village walk, it was no surprise when we had to deploy the rain cover!

Nerves did shiver through me at first as I stood getting slightly drenched whilst grabbing the rain cover from under the pushchair. We were about a mile from home and I had no idea whether it would take me several minutes to put on and figure out, or several seconds!  Never fear ... it took seconds!

I'm super impressed with the large, springy, elastic rain cover that whizzed over the seat unit covering absolutely every ounce of the pushchair seat and it even had a lovely Velcro window for me to reach in to Gus if needs be! So simple, but so effective! 

Fingers crossed for less wind and rain next week!​

December 8th 2015

Mr. Trailz (as he has affectionately become known!) has had a few days of real off-roading adventures. Many people would spend £900+ on a pushchair and wrap it in cotton wool but I'm a great believer in using pushchairs for what they are intended for, so off we went on some mammoth walks! One of which was a bit like an episode of  'Total Wipe Out' as I slipped and slid on the mud. The Trailz™ however coped brilliantly. The tyres ran through the slippery mud no problem. I did feel Gus was rattled about slightly on the really rocky paths but nevertheless,  I was able to push the pushchair with one hand and film whilst Gus slept soundly. (I did find I needed a lot of extra stength to push the Trailz™ today but I put that down to me getting used to the feel of a larger pushchair). Feeling slightly flustered at the fact I'd caked the Trailz™ in mud, I quickly hosed the wheels and the bottom of the shopping basket before I went back into the kitchen. Voila, good as new! Off road capability - tick!

I was walking with my lovely friend and her 2 year old daughter, they have an out'n'about nipper V3. We popped them side by side to see how beastly and big the Trailz™ is! Gus seems to love the height of the seat, he has an expression on his face as if he is king of the pushchairs!

December 11th 2015

So today was one of 'those' Mummy days, when it came to loading the Trailz™ in the car, I ended up falling out with him (Mr.Trailz!) big time! I carried the chassis out to the car and put it down whilst I opened the boot... it never occurred to me it would fall straight over, so I repeated the process x3 in my baby brain state! When I went to pick it up, I ended up trapping my left hand because the frame was flapping - I even  have a tiny war wound to show for it! No auto-lock and the fact it didnt stand on its own whilst folded meant that the Trailz™ and I had fallen out of love for today! Further frame lock crisis averted when I returned home and found a loop of velcro to pop round the frame in a bid to make my own frame lock for when the pushchair was folded.

December 14th 2015

A very exciting day today as Gus had a starring roll in his first nativity! Gus was a donkey so I dressed him in his grey suit and hat but typically he fell asleep!  He fulfilled his role in utter style rolling down the aisle of the church in his Trailz™. (It was the right colour at least!). I bet Mary and Joseph wished that they had such a cool pushchair back in 1BC!

The Trailz™ has also been christmas food shopping with me (yes I'm trying to be organised!) I noticed something really great about the basket of the Trailz™. It has a reflective strip down both sides and when my mum stepped outside of the shop into the dark with the pushchair, the first thing I saw was the reflective strip glowing. I thought this was a pretty neat feature for the dark winter afternoons.

December 20th 2015

I thought I would sneak in a little ride on my trusty steed Rom whilst Jonty and his grandad enjoyed some quality time together. Gus came along for the evening outing and sat patiently in the barn, all cosy in the Trailz™ watching on. Gus always seems so content in the Trailz™, I'm convinced the seat is magic, there really is no other explanation!

We made a few trips into our local town Bakewell to get some Christmas shopping done this week. As usually Gus was covered in his 'tent' as we call in (rain cover). It feels like I hardly use the pushchair without it on these days! He just loves peeking out of the little velcro window!

The poor Trailz™ was fully loaded on this little shopping trip! I know the Guru's at Stokke­® say it has a "large" shopping basket but they weren't kidding! 3 carrier bags of food, 3 boxes of chocolates, a full changing bag, raincover (it had dried up by now!), Jonty's coat, amy mums handbag and a bag of warm lamb and mint pasties for lunch! I was impressed!

The only niggle of the whole journey is that poor Gus had to wait outside one of the gift shops as the Trailz™ was too big to fit in. It wasn't a huge deal though as I had my mum with me and she waited with him.

December 23rd 2015

Every day that I use the Trailz™ it seems to get easier and easier to push. It's always been smooth to push, but the wheels seem to be broken in properly now. It feels great! At first I felt nervous lifting such a big pushchair up and down curbs. I have a tiny curb at the top of my drive which I expected the Trailz™ to go straight over without lifting it up (my other pushchair used to sail over it)... but Mr Trailz always ploughs to a halt as soon as we touch it and it always seems to catch me off guard!

Those clever people at Stokke® have thought it out though and have put a handy footplate in the centre of the back axle making curb popping much more straight forward. Now I've done it a few times its easy as pie!

December 26th 2015

It's been a busy family Christmas here in Eyam. We've been enjoying the festivities with friends and family, which of course has meant wintery (sort of!) walks with Gus in the Trailz™. The walks have, as usual, been full of mud and this week we have had a sprinkling of Christmas wind, rain and fog to add into the mix.

The Trailz™ has been skipping between walks and living in our kitchen rather than being popping in and out of the car. I actually quite like it as a feature in my kitchen! It beats Gus's Daddy's rusty car parts any day! 

The Trailz™ definitely hasn't let me down this week. I can't think of any terrain we haven't covered in it. It has been so easy to push, regardless of whether we were on rocky paths, gravel, fields, mud or in water. I'm getting quite tuned in to when I need to lock the wheels off when on the rough terrain and its really noticeable, the Trailz™ is really living up to its name this week.

I hope Mr Trailz enjoyed his first family Christmas with us, he certainly served us well :) ​​With all the wind that's been about this week, it has been a challenge to keep Gus snug and cosy. We really didn't want his virus to reappear for Santa coming so the Stokke® split leg footmuff came up trumps again.

The footmuff has to be purchased extra and does not come with the pushchair, however I would say it is well worth doing so. It zips quite high up and I love the zip feature that forms a cocooned hood around the babies head... no need for a hat/coat with a hood! Gus is so snug in the pushchair with the footmuff on and is nearly always guaranteed a snooze if I take him out for a walk in it, which is an added bonus!

January 2nd 2016

Happy New Year to all of you!

This week Jonty was still on school holidays. So in a bid to save my mummy sanity, rescue my house from yet more mess and of course keep the kiddies entertained, we went on quite a few trips out in the car to visit people and places.

On Tuesday we were going to meet Grandma and Grandad and took our big daft dog Max with us too. I panicked at first at the prospect of fitting Max and the XL sized Trailz™ into the car along with all of the 'gubbins' that I require to get through the day with the kids. Luckily I have an estate car with a big boot and was able to pack the chassis and seat unit, one on top of the other, to the right of the boot and Max was able to sit to the left... Although Max did look noticeably less pleased to be sharing his boot space with a large, grey, dog on wheels! I'm not sure how I will manage when trying to fit the Trailz™ into a smaller boot. The chassis itself folds well and makes quite a flat package,  it's the seat that I seem to find hard to fit in. 

Jonty waited patiently, sporting his favourite bobble hat, whilst I packed Gus, Max and the pushchair into the car. He was such a good boy that I promised I would give him a special mention this week!

Taking a break from walks in the wind and rain, we decided to take a fun family outing to the local bowling alley whilst Daddy was off work. The Trailz™ has worked hard for us in the great outdoors recently, so we felt he needed some TLC in the warm and dry of the bowling alley! We took the Trailz™ right down into the bowling lane with us as there was plenty of room and Gus sat happily watching us bowl balls. He had such a great vantage point from the high seat unit and enjoyed having a good nosey! 

January 10th 2016

This week has been a pretty quiet one here in our neck of the woods. We took the Trailz™ bed shopping with us (we're not avid shoppers at the best of times so January sale bed shopping was a very scary thought!)

I worried that the Trailz™ wouldn't be so welcome in the pristine bed showroom but how wrong was I! There was bags of room for it and as we went upstairs in the lift together, our kind sales assistant even admired the Trailz™ (whilst attempting to make us spent twice the amount we needed too on a different bed!). Taking the Trailz™ with us out shopping was by no means stressful, which was a bonus!

Gus had his meningitis jab towards the end of the week and boy did it make him feverish! I took to the wet and muddy fields and paths to settle him and help him sleep it off a little. Gus is always so snuggly in the seat unit and he slept soundly in the Trailz™ for a good hour, which for Gus is a record! He wasn't woken by the rough ground what so ever. The more I use the Trailz™ off-road, the more I seem to enjoy it! But my hands were freezing and going blue in the 3 degree winds, so off we toddled home to research a means of keeping myself warm and toasty as well as Gus!

At the weekend we took a little trip to our favourite local attraction, Chatsworth House. Again, another freezing day so we kept the footmuff on to warm Gus up. Chatsworth has cobbled courtyards but the Trailz™ was brilliant and rode smoothly over them. Gus was slightly fussy after his injections still, so the higher seat unit really came in handy as I didn't need to keep bending down to comfort him. 

The best part about having the Trailz™ for me is the fact that we can use it almost like a personal luggage caddy! The basket, although shallow, is very large and everyone can pop their stuff in it easily. We took the Trailz™ right into the carriage house restaurant with us for lunch and were able to pack the changing bag, 4 coats, hats, scarves, gloves and the kitchen sink underneath, so that we didn't sprawl our belongings all over the restaurant!  A big basket does make life that little bit easier, I would love it even more if the basket sides were a little deeper to support its contents from the sides and stop things potentially falling out.

January 14th 2016

So the Trailz™ has experienced its first pushchair valet with me (and Gus) this week!

I've not been shy about taking the Trailz™ off-road but this has meant lots of mud, grass, gravel and water has clung on to the wheels and chassis over the past month or so. I was pleasantly surprised when I removed the footmuff that there was no biscuit crumbs or bits of rice cake in the seat! It looks as good as new so I just gave it a quick whizz over with my steam cleaner. Next came the chassis and I used my blessed car (ah-hem pushchair!) cleaning kit to clean the chassis and then give it a quick clean up. The Trailz™ was shiny new once more and looked as if I'd just got it out of the box again. It took me no more than 10 minutes in total (and that's with a 9 month old 'helping' me too!) meaning I even had time for a cup of tea afterwards!

I thought I would use one of the features I haven't tried to use yet, the ventilated hood panel. Its not really been the weather to use it recently but when blessed with a dry day I decided to open the vent to get some fresh air into Gus. There is a handy popper to secure the hood flap back. The panel let light into the pushchair whilst still protecting Gus from the elements. We sat relaxing in the village square and it was so nice for Gus to see the breeze in the trees when he looked up! Lovely!

January 16th 2016

Argh!!!  Disaster! This week I have experienced that heart sinking moment when your shiny new pushchair receives its first scratch! I didn't cry, no, but was slightly frustrated :( I scuffed the plastic hinge guard at the side of the chassis on a stone wall whilst trying to squeeze to one side of the pavement to let a dog walker past.

As disappointed as I was, I can't help but think the Trailz™ has done pretty well to last 2 months of all terrain use in a multitude of surroundings before receiving its first tiny scuff. Maybe that is testament to the durability and sturdiness of the chassis?!

Fingers crossed for no more impatient dog walkers and fewer jagged stone walls in future!

January 17th 2016

Eek! IT'S SNOWING! I mean proper fluffy white stuff not just slush! I was actually more excited than my 4 year old son to see the white stuff purely due to the fact that I couldn't wait to get the Trailz™ out in the icy cold air ... that is what it's Norwegian roots intended it for after all! I'm not quite sure what I expected, but Mr Trailz didn't even seem to notice the snow and as always I had peace of mind that Gus was tucked up snuggly inside the pushchair. Gus didn't seem to find the snow ride exciting in the slightest - perhaps due to the fact that the big air tyres seem to absorb any movement and Gus had as smooth a ride as ever. TRAILZ: 1  SNOW: 0.

January 20th 2016

You may remember me moaning about my freezing cold hands a few weeks ago whilst pushing Gus out in the chilly 3degree winds. I went home and popped my laptop out and researched into a bit of a 'mummy treat' to keep my hands warm. I LOVE the concept of the official Stokke® Winter kit, its pretty scrummy and protects baby, mummy and pushchair all in one fell swoop. However at £255 (don't choke!) I thought it was a bit excessive and Gus's Daddy might just notice that amount of pennies slipping out of the joint bank account in mid January! 

So instead I opted for a cheaper £29.99 faux sheepskin lined hand-warmer. It's just as snug but maybe slightly less stylish than the lady on the Stokke® adverts! It works a treat though and is much needed in the cold air of a British January. No more miserable mummy which means Gus can enjoy being out in the Trailz™ for longer. Smiles all round!

January 21st 2016

Dog poo!

Today I had that inevitable encounter of dog poo all over my hands as I lifted the Trailz™ into the car boot - FANTASTIC!

Not to worry though, the Trailz™ wheels clicked off easily, so when I got home I gave them a good wash and just clicked them back on afterwards. So I was just left with myself to shower and clean up! Simple!

January 26th 2016

This week I have come across yet another feature of Mr. Trailz that I absolutely love.

I have praised the "big, comfy, high seat unit" countless times but this week the Trailz™ came up trumps with its seat recline.

I absolutely LOVE the lay flat recline on the Trailz™. It's perfectly horizontal and gives such a cuddly cradle for Gus to fall asleep in. You simply press the white bar (underneath the seat unit) button in and move the seat to whatever position you need. It is so very simple....and simple is good in a busy parents world!

Thanks to the wonderful, SILENT(Yay!), easy recline on the Trailz™, I was able to steal one of those rare and priceless mummy moments and after a 3 mile field walk with Max, I parked a deeply sleeping Gus outside the kitchen in the January sunshine and sat down watching the trees and the birds with a hot cup of tea! Thank you Mr Trailz!

**small print!** - It is probably worth noting that the horizontal recline is only possible in parent facing mode and not in world facing mode but I don't see this as an issue at all.

January 29th 2016

We decided to escape for a walk around the canal basin today. We took that big (gulp!) step of turning Gus around to parent facing mode so he had a fab view of the ducks and the boats. It's seemed to work as Gus was as happy as ever. We stopped for a chilly, al fresco lunch and naturally Gus had to drop some of his good onto the fabrics of the Trailz™. I didn't panic too much though as it was on the bumper bar and the cover zips off easily enough. I'll keep you posted as to how easy the mark came off!

February 2nd 2016

I popped the seat unit on the floor as usual without thinking, but with all the rain we have had the ground was pretty soggy and the fabric on the seat unit gained a nice damp, muddy patch on it.

Although the fabric all the way down the back of the seat unit looks very pretty, you do need to be careful as it can become grubby and marked easily. Note to self - Do not put pushchair seat in anymore puddles!

February 5th 2016

Last weeks adventures saw Gus smearing food on the bumper bar of the Trailz™ and naturally today he felt the need to add to the occasion but wiping his post Italian restaurant lunch hands down the inside of his footmuff. 

Now this may not sound like a major incident to many, however the inside of the Stokke footmuff is cream (dun-dun-dunnnnn!) and my babies hands were orange. Epic mummy fail! 

I decided to grab the instruction manual and check if and how the fabrics can be washed. The manual suggests a 30 wash, so off I went to the utility room to try and restore the Trailz™ to his former glory! 

After a splash of vanish on the orange marks and a 15 minute quick wash on 30 degrees, the footmuff and bumper bar looked as good as new and Mr Trailz will be gleaming once more! Phew!

February 9th 2016

Now Gus loves to hold on to the bumper bar when he is riding in the Trailz™ (this is no testament to my pushchair driving may I add!) ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​and it is extremely handy for tucking blankets into etc, but Gee Whizz did it give me a headache today!

Whilst getting Gus in and out of the pushchair I realised just how much of a fuss the bumper bar on the Trailz™ is. It is very basic and unfortunately it isn't a gate opening style bumper bar, so in order to get Gus out, I was forced to pop both sides of the bumper bar off and put it down somewhere ... then when it came to putting it back on, in my mad mummy state, I nearly always forget where I have put it.

A gate opening, pivoting bumper bar would make a parents life so much easier than the basic, quite flimsy bumper bar that the Trailz™ has - please Mr Stokke

February 13th 2016

But never fear, all is not lost! I am still in love with the Trailz™ after all, as I also discovered the quietly clever crotch strap on the seat unit! isn't it amazing what us parents get excited about!

Getting Gus in and out of the pushchair countless times may have proved fussy with the bumper bar but the crotch strap on the harness made life so much easier. It is made of a stiff, reinforced webbing which holds its own shape and is always prominent from the seat unit. This means that when I popped Gus in and out there was no faffing around and searching for the harness straps underneath the baby, they were there and ready to be fastened in a jiffy. The only thing that would have made this exciting mummy discovery even more momentous would be if the whole harness had been made in this wondrous way!

February 28th 2016

So this week has seen the Trailz™ take a few shopping trips into town with us. Now, being a country girl....I don't venture to the big city shops much and I was slightly anxious about how the Trailz™ would fair down narrow aisles and on busy pavements.

Surprise, surprise, the Trailz™ was fab over the cobbles in the town centre and turned on a sixpence through the aisles in the crowded shops. For the first time ever, I had 3 fellow mummies complement me on the terrific Trailz™ - one lady commenting "wow! I've never seen one in person before!" We did feel like movie stars for a second! 

A slight gritting of teeth moment came when I was asked to leave the Trailz™ outside of the busy shoe store. The children's shoes were in the basement level of the store and I really wasn't comfortable leaving Mr.Trailz™ (and the twenty tonnes of shopping and general mummy clutter that was in its basket!) outside and well out of view. I took the (crazy -according to the shop assistant! ) decision to bump the Trailz™ down the 12 stairs and all the way back up again when we had finished.  It was a breeze!  It really wasn't a fuss at all. Needless to say, next time we shop, I will be avoiding said unhelpful shoe shop!

February 16th 2016

Half term is in full flow in our boy heavy house, so I couldn't wait to escape to attempt to tire the little people out! Naturally it rained and poured so our outing to a wildlife park was scuppered slightly...BUT there's nothing boys love more than mud, so off we trudged, with the trusty Trailz™ on a walk through the thick, sticky mud and long grass - as always it handled brilliantly with the wheel locked into position and the boys had a wonderful time too!

February 19th 2016

A freezing cold but sunny day here in Eyam so we called some friends and arranged an off-the-cuff picnic in the village square! Myself, Jonty, Gus and the Trailz™ walked the 1 mile trip down into the village square laden with picnic and all manner of items to protect us from the icy air! Jonty fancied his hand at pushchair driving and thanks to the Trailz™ being so easy to push and having an adjustable handlebar he seemed to do a pretty good job of it!  He was very proud of himself too!

Next week we're back to the norm of school runs so the Trailz™ will be back in and out of the car again for the majority of the week - onwards!

March 6th 2016

Phew.... what a week!

We've been coated in the white stuff again this week in the Peak District. How relieved I was that I could turn to  the Trailz to help me out on the wet and snowy school runs!

The fluffy stuff covered our road for some time and with Daddy taking the Land Rover to work and leaving us the sledge of an estate car to get around in, we decided it best to walk our errands!

Gus looked somewhat smug being all cosy in the Trailz™ - Whilst he was protected well from the elements, mummy was being battered by horizontal blizzards!

The rain cover on the Trailz™ was fantastic and totally covered Gus and protected him entirely.

The chunky tyres were absolutely superb, even if they did get slightly buried! The design of the chassis means that their is a narrower wheel base at the front of the Trailz™. This detail helps the wheels to cut through any snow, long grass, rocky terrain or mud and the rear wheel base is somewhat wider providing power and stability to drive the pushchair forward. Again, another simple bit clever engineering detail from Stokke®.

March 14th 2016

I can declare that spring has officially sprung here in Derbyshire. The lambs are bounding around in the fields, the daffodils are out but more importantly, so is the sun!

Lots of sunshine has meant that the footmuff has been stripped off the Trailz™ this week revealing the cleverly shaped seat unit to it's full glory. Naturally, true to Trailz™ form, it is an XL seat unit. Gus had bags of room to spare and was scooped up so comfortably by the padded, rounded seat. We took to the hills for some sunny spring walks and ended up finding possibly the steepest track in Derbyshire to push Gus and the Trailz™ up - the Trailz™ did most of the hard work however and Gus slept soundly even when rolling over the rocky path.

March 28th 2016

Happy Easter one and all! Today isn't just a day for scoffing chocolate and celebrating new life as in our household  it is also Gus's 1st birthday!

I realised that I had made an epic mummy (and slightly blonde?!) fail - I ordered most of Gus's presents online only to be informed by my helpful other half that it was a double bank holiday and the presents wouldnt arrive on time. Eek! In a mad flurry I hit the shops with the Trailz™ to pick up some gifts in person.

Gus slept soundly, so no birthday surprises were ruined and the Trailz™ pushed really smoothly in the hustle of the shopping centre. I have discovered one WONDERFUL quality that the size of the Trailz™ attributes to ... people seem to move out of the way very quickly when they see you pushing the Trailz™ - perhaps it is size that gets it noticed?! Or perhaps the frenzied look on my face as I rushed to buy presents in the nick of time?!

April 1st 2016

We took the Trailz™ on the train today. I did worry what I would do if the train was busy, as we all know the Trailz™ is a super sized pushchair.  My worrying turned out to be a waste of time as usual, the Trailz™ nestled perfectly into the pushchair/wheelchair spaces on the train carriage and Gus sat happily admiring the view all the way to Manchester!

April 4th 2016

So today we had our first sandy encounter. Granted, it's not beach sand, but sand all the same! Gus was helping mummy move the horse jumps around in the sand arena although the Trailz™ ended up being more of a hindrance than a help.

Mr Trailz™ seemed not to like the wet, heavy, bumpy sand in the riding arena and all of a sudden felt very heavy to push and wouldn't budge an inch.

We resorted to dragging the Trailz™ backwards from one end of the arena to the other. That will teach me for taking my child on a day out to the world's biggest sand.

April 6th 2016

We took the Trailz™ around the Darwin Forest Nature Reserve today. The chunky tyres coped reasonably well over the rickety woodland path. We were only caught out on the occasional tree root! Personally I blame Gus's Daddy for his over - zealous driving technique!

April 26th 2016

This week saw the Trailz™ being shipped off to my parents house as they came to the rescue and became our childcare champions! I didn't breathe a word to them about the size of the Trailz™ as I knew it could possibly tip my mother over the edge!

I went for the drop-and-run tactic, leaving Gus playing happily and the Trailz™ neatly folded in their car boot all ready for the off!

I won't lie - I expected countless texts from my Mum about how to set the Trailz™ up or complaining about its size- to my utter amazement there was complete radio silence from them!

Upon picking the Trailz™ (and the children of course!) up in the afternoon, I sheepishly asked if all was alright with the pushchair.  My dad was uber enthusiastic and proclaimed how the Trailz™ was the best pushchair he has used yet! It was so easy to use for one simple reason -  that beautiful Norwegian design had conquered yet again because as my dad said "anything that is white, does something!"

My dad, bless him, is totally right. Every button, lever or action that does anything on the Trailz™ is coded bright white - easily seen and easily recognisable. If its white, just press, pull, wiggle or push it and something will happen! Using the Trailz™ therefore, couldn't be any easier! Well done Stokke® for making the Trailz™ so user friendly!

April 30th 2016

ARRRRGH! I knew it! A few posts back I mention the bumper bar on the Trailz™ and how taking it off meant totally removing it as it wasn't gate opening ... well ...you guessed it ... I've gone and lost it. I've put on my inspectors hat and have come to the conclusion that a) I popped it on the roof of my mums truck whilst I lifted Gus out and it's been catapulted off as I've driven around the corner OR b) the bumper bar is stranded on the floor of a car park in Bakewell being pecked at by ducks.

Personally I'm going with B, but either way I'm so frustrated. I'm going to get on the phone to Stokke® tomorrow and try to arrange a replacement! Fingers crossed they won't laugh at me!

May 3rd 2016

The bank holiday weekend has seen some sicky bugs and silly weather up here in the Peak District. With Gus not fit for much but calpol and sleep and me still sulking over my missing bumper bar, Mr Trailz has been sat patiently in the corner of the kitchen  waiting for his next outing. I must of walked past him dozens of times without even taking account of his size or stubbing my toes on him. So either the Trailz™ is easier to store than I first thought it was or I've just got used to its sheer chunkiness. Personally, I think it's a bit of both!

Alas my time 'Living With' the Trailz™ is at an end. Mr. Trailz has been the man of my dreams (bar a few minor domestics!) throughout the last 6 months. He's seen us over grass, gravel, sand (in a fashion!), through plenty of snow and most certainly up hill and down dale. Without his super sized basket, life would have been much more difficult and his super comfy seat has seen Gus through hours of sleep as well as hours of giggles and chatter. Yes he's massive, but I've learn't to use that to my advantage - usually in the form of intimidating grumpy people who feel the pavement or supermarket aisle is not for sharing!

So, Stokke® Trailz™, it's been a pleasure:

Number of fab family days out: 20 something
Number of hours of Gus naps: Lots!
Number of hot drinks consumed in peace: 5 (it's a record)
Number of punctures: 1
Number of disasters: 1 ( I lost the bumper bar - I told you this would happen!)

It's fair to say the Trailz™ has been fantastic. All I need now is for Stokke® to create an auto-locking Trailz™ chassis and a pivoting bumper bar for the seat and I'll be all set and ready to purchase my Trailz™ V2!