What "Upgrades" I Want For Our Umbrella Stroller

Remember the stroller accessories I wanted from this post last month? I made a couple of bottle holders instead of cup holders. We always carry our stainless steel bottle and a sippy cup with us, so no need for those heavy duty plastic cupholders. These bottle holders are so easy to make, used just a couple of small scraps, and about 10 minutes to cut and make. I used them for our entire stay in Orlando, and they are just perfect! I didn't have time to make a cute stroller bag like the one I showed in that post, just hang a canvas shopping bag (I got from our hospital benefit fair for free) on the handles. I used it to hold any other liquidy/wet stuffs, and little caterpillar's snacks (for easy access). I kept her extra clothes and other dry stuffs in my backpack, along with my camera and lenses. Didn't want to carry an extra camera bag, learnt my lesson from the first day. So, what else I could do to improve my stroller experience for the future? OK, stubborn did offer to buy a fancier stroller for our next big trip to China, but the usual DIYer in me kindly said no. I believe what my friend told me, get the cheaper ones, so when they broke down, you won't be broke as well. She went through 3 already! Maybe that won't happen with a higher end one, but who knows. We gate checked ours this time, and one handle cover was badly damaged.

Anyway, here are some issues I had with our umbrella stroller, and I really want some "upgrades".First of all, both Stubborn and I are tall, so pushing a umbrella stroller around for a whole day became a backbreaking chore! I want to stand up straight when pushing it! Found this while googling. So easy and affective! Next time I will keep my eyes open for a old/broken umbrella stroller while thrifting.

The third day we were at Orlando, there was a big thunder storm. We had to stay at hotel waiting for it to stop. I decided not to wait till it stops (predicted after 3pm) to go to Seaworld across the street. We never used a stroller in rain before, so the only thing I could do was covering it with a beach towel, pushing it with one hand and holding my umbrella with the other! It was so hard! Then little caterpillar was so bored sitting in there cannot see anything, she decided to pull the towel down. She loved my umbrella though. So, she ended up holding my umbrella handle, while I hold the edge with my both hands on stroller handles and wearing the towel on my head and shoulder. We must looked rediculous! The towel was wet even before we sat down for the shamu show! I saw other people had those rain cover thing,and their kids didn't miss a thing while getting pushed around. Well, that rain cover is not expensive at all, but you guessed, I had to search for tutorials on how to make one! I know it doesn't worth the effort to make one, but I really want one that I can easily access my girl. Maybe I can come up with a design that I can use for both a raincover and a mosqito net.

While googling for umbrella stroller upgrade, found this blog Baby Porting. It's full of interesting ideas, I am sure I can find some inspirations.

Oh, this is a totally unrelated topic. I also found a couple of tutorials about toy stroller. One is how to make this cute DIY Doll Stroller Liner.
And this amazing transformation from a broken doll stroller to this vintage-y baby buggy.