Back in early June (2009), my Mom and Dad and my Grandparents (on my Dad's side) took me to lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe at Downtown Disney. That's in Anaheim for you East Coasters. At Disneyland there's a rule— you park your stroller with the other 150 strollers in the designated stroller area and you can leave some stuff like binkis, rattles and what not, but take your cameras, cell phones, etc with you. That's the rule. It's the honor system and we've done it a hundred times.

My Mom and Dad unloaded everything including the car seat that goes from the car to the stroller very nicely. When we came out from lunch, my stroller wasn't there! We look down the rows of parked buggies and lo and behold, the identical stroller. Not quite identical... it was really beat up and covered in Lord knows what, and there were some obvious girl toys in the bottom. 

Some seriously inconsiderate family, upgraded!  I was stroller-jacked! Can you believe it?  The worst part is that this parent (or lack there of), taught their sponge of a toddler that this was OK! Fortunately the only thing we left in the stroller was a tin of Altoids.

Every once in a while we see someone with the same make and model, and we always check the zippered pocket located under the handle. The zipper was broken on mine... the only thing wrong with the stroller. 

Last month my Dad's friend was playing at the Brea Jazz Festival (the Kyle Crane Band), and we see this stroller making its way through the crowd. Ooooh, could this be the one?  It's relatively clean. As it passed, the 3 of us all checked out the tail end of the stroller like construction workers at a job site, and in deed- the zipper was busted open!  My Dad politely approached the young father pushing his son and asked, "That's a cool stroller! Did it come with a tin of Curiously Strong Altoids?"   The man looked puzzled. But I couldn't tell if he was puzzled by such a strange question, or confused that he had been made. We may never know. But there possibly goes one man, pushing the next generation criminal in a stroller. How sad.

Somehow, we must forgive them and move on. Perhaps they needed it more than us. And no worries, I'm cruising around in a sweet new 3-wheel Jeep--with a combination cable lock.

Until next time,

Zak