If you’re looking for quality children’s swimwear this summer, add i play to your shopping list. The company, officially known as “i play.”, was founded by designer Becky Cannon based upon the motto: Extraordinary Baby Wear.  At first glance it may seem a little out of place with some of the more traditional outdoor brands you find written about on this site and at our store, Little Mountain Outfitters.  I have found that very few ‘outdoor brands’ offer sizes for infants, babies, and toddlers, especially when it comes to swimwear.  i play excels in this category and does it with quality, function, style and at a great price.

I play offers a wide range of products and I have focused our selection on the best of the sun protective swimwear, and sun hats for infants, babies, and toddlers.

The company began when Becky Cannon was inspired to begin making baby wear over 20 years ago after she had her first child, Emi, in Japan. Observing the styles and practicality of Japanese children’s apparel, Cannon returned to the United States, and began her international enterprise in kids’ wear.  Starting as an import mail-order company in 1982, the Internet has since boosted Cannon’s merchandise visibility and sales to a level far beyond what she could have originally dreamed. She credits her start to her grandmother who taught her how to sew, and is appreciative of her loyal client base that continually motivates her with new ideas and requests for sensible summer baby wear.  It’s no wonder that i play is now a leader in the production of durable and fashionable baby and kids’ items from bibs and diaper covers to swimwear and play clothes.

Shop Little Mountain Outfitters for i play babywear.

Crocodile Creek has created some of the best looking stainless steel water bottles for kids.  Better yet, they’ve done it for under $10!  There are 10 great designs for boys and girls.  All the bottles are 12oz capacity and made from #304 food grade stainless steel(also more commonly known as 18/8 stainless steel).  They are single wall(non-insulated) with a sport style top.

Shop Crocodile Creek Drinking Bottles

The Crocodile Creek drinking bottles look as good as the Sigg bottles, even have some better kids designs, in my opinion, and because they are stainless steel they are naturally Lead safe, Phthalate free , and BPA free.  There is no liner on the inside so you can safely fill them with any beverage; water, juice, or milk.  Crocodile Creek does recommend hand washing of course.  I’ll be taking one home tonight to put to the test with my 4 year old daughter.  I’ll also give it a run through the dishwasher so check back for more updates.

There are also other great products that Crocodile Creek makes like kids melamine place settings, puzzles, placemats, bibs, lunch boxes, and even play balls, that you’ll find at their website, crocodilecreek.com.

Little Mountain Outfitters has just added Kenda replacement tubes to our online catalog.  Kenda offers replacement tubes for strollers in 8.5″, 12.5″, 16″, and 20″ diameters.  The 8.5″ replacement tubes have a bent stem to make it easy to attach a pump.  The 12.5″ replacement tubes also have a bent stem which we use most often on Phil & Teds strollers but also will work for BOB Strollers and many others.  You can also buy BOB Stroller replacement tubes in 12″ and 16″ sizes that have the straight Schraeder valve.

I’ve been using this trailer [Croozer 535] since early spring and so far I love it. I have two duaghters 1yr and 3yr olds. Both girls run small for their age.

The construction of this trailer is very tight. The first time I unfolded it I thought I might be doing something wrong because of the amount of force that was required to open it. Once opened it is very sturdy/solid and the fabric is tight. The fabric is thick and so far very durable.

The conversion to stroller/trailer is simple. All wheels are easy to remove and very secure when in place. It is also easy to fold for storage.

My girls have plenty of leg room. The bucket seats and divider are great, It keeps the bigger girl from encroaching on the smallers space. Both girls have slept in the trailer and don’t runaway screaming when I mention “bike ride” so I’m guessing they are comfortable.

When looking to buy we checked out the Burly, Trek, Chariot and Instep brands. We liked the Chariot the best but the price was just too much, so we took a chance on the “China” model and don’t regret it.

I’m sure I’ve missed some important info since I’m new to this reviewing thing, so if you have any questions I’ld love to answer them.

Jacob

my wife and I bought the 737 single seat last year and havent looked back
Its great in stroller mode and good on the bike
I have no real issues with the wieght of the trailer and kid but cant imagine doubling it
Remember just cause an area is bike friendly doesnt mean trailer freindly
I’ve had to get it up a flight of stairs and over fences were it wont fit through the small gate
over all its helped bring the family closer together and highly recomend one

Owen

Little Mountain Outfitters now has the Croozer Designs 3 in 1 combo bike trailers / jog strollers in stock!  Croozer offers the best value in a high quality bike trailer that transforms into  a jog stroller or a swivel wheel walking stroller.  For under $450 you can get a single or double seat bike trailer setup that INCLUDES the cycling attachement, jog wheel, and strolling wheel!

The ShadyBaby Stroller Parasol is now in store and online at Little Mountain Outfitters.  The ShadyBaby Parasol is a great sun umbrella that will fit just about any stroller.  It’s easily adjustable in 3 places so  your little one will always be protected from the sun.  The fabric of course, carries a UPF rating of 50+.

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Klean Kanteen has just announced the creation of an updated Sport Cap for their hugely successful line of stainless steel water bottles.  I just faxed an order in so I would be sure to have them as soon as possible.  The expected release date is on April 14th so I hope to have them at Little Mountain Outfitters in Boulder and on our website, www.littlemountainoutfitters.com by April 20th.

The new Sport Cap 2.0 will solve two challenges that the old sport cap presented; flow rate, and noise.  For those that have used a Klean Kanteen bottle with the sport cap you are probably so accustomed to both that you have forgotten about your first week of using the bottle.  Think back to then when you dreaded the tell tale squealling the cap would make as you drank and the pressure equalized.  Soon that will all be in the past.  Klean Kanteen promises to have created a sport cap that delivers effortless flow on a bottle with no noise.  They have spent a year developing a new super high-flow sport cap that barely requires any pressure.  They say that if the old sport cap was a tiny, trickling creek, the new Sport 2.0 is Niagara Falls ant that you can actually chug water from it.  Klean Kanteen claims that there will be 3x the flow compared to the first sport cap and a quieter valve.  Of course it’s also made to last, just like their bottles, and is made with BPA-free polypropylene.  It has only one simple moving part so it won’t break or be blocked by buildup.

No pics available yet.  In the mean time you can shop all our Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel water bottles and Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Sippy Cups at www.littlemountainoutfitters.com/kleankanteen.

Get ready for spring break or just have some fun at your local rec center with the latest kids swimwear from Speedo.  I just finished getting our entire collection of Speedo swim suits for boys and Speedo swim suits for girls onto the Little Mountain Outfitters website.  You’ll also find many of Speedo’s learn to swim and flotation devices for children.  Our family recently traveled to Mexico and we used the Arm Bands for our daughter (almost 4 yrs old) and the Baby Seat for our son(1 yr old).

Both were wonderful because they allowed us to have fun in the pool without having to constantly be holding on to either child.  One of my favorite new items for this season is the Thermal UV Suit for toddlers.  It’s a lightweight neoprene wetsuit just for toddlers.  Great for cool pools or kids that just can’t seem to stay warm in the water very long.  There are also a variety of kids swim goggles available online.  My top picks are any of the Hydrospex series. They have a comfy fit and the Speed Strap adjustment is so much better than the old school straps that take forever to adjust and never seem to stay in place very long.

For extensive Kindershuttle and ski pulk info check out our new wordpress blog, kindershuttle.wordpress.com, dedicated to winter family fun.

Click on the following link for purchasing the Wilderness Engineering Kindershuttle.

Click on the following link for Kindershuttle rental and demo info in the Boulder area.