Speed limits. Backyard fences. Seatbelts. Instructions. Baby gates. Warning labels. Does that list make you cringe thinking, “Rules, rules, rules! What about carpe diem? Don’t fence me in!”  Maybe a list of limits or restrictions makes you feel like stretching your wings a little bit.

Spring Break is here and so is my cousin Nikita from Toronto, Canada. This is her first trip to California so the girls and I thought we would take her to one of our favourite places, Santa Monica. A city known for the famous Santa Monica Pier, eclectic energy,  shopping, restaurants, and more shopping.

Be in to win one of two amazing books - Train Like A Mother: How To Get Across Any Finish Line - And Not Lose Your Family, Job or Sanity - by reading the excerpt below, and then answer the three easy questions that feature after the blog!

Five years ago, Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea, both mothers, writers and runners, took on the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. Their combined 54.4 miles sprouted a book called Run Like a Mother: How to get Moving— and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity and an amazing, supportive, funny virtual community of mother runners that gathers at Another Mother Runner and at Run Like a Mother: The Book on Facebook. The sequel, Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line—and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity was released on March 20th. Here’s a sneak peak, and some ideas to keep your kids and you happy during your runs while you push Mountain Buggy terrain.

By Kristen Horler, CEO & Founder of Baby Boot Camp

I was never a runner. During pregnancy and for the next few years, I learned to love walking. I walked miles and miles and miles with my kids in their double stroller. When we moved from California to Florida in 2005, I started jogging my kids to pre-school in their double stroller... mostly because we were running late. But the flat, paved path from our house to their school was a nice way to spend the morning together, while they enjoyed their breakfast.

So with the holiday booked, I have already started to think about what I need to take with me and how I am going to strategically pack it into the car. The Mountain Buggy terrain is quite a bit bigger than my previous pushchairs, so I am fearful that something may have to stay behind. My mind starts to reel will it be the kids bucket and spades and other essential toys, or am I going to have to forfeit some of my clothes!

I’m a member of the Strollers and Prams forum, and this is a question I get a lot from potential buyers wanting to gauge my opinion of the Mountain Buggy duet now I am owned it for 6 months. My answer is; YES! I adore it. It is a sanity saver.