Hybrid Bicycles - Am I ready for a new bike?

Hi everyone, I recently decided to get into cycling for fitness, I was walking 4 miles a day pushing a stroller with my 3 year old riding in it and my 5 year old riding his bicycle next to me. I realized that if we had another bicycle and a trailer we could all ride together. I thought about getting a bike at the LBS but I didn't know how much we would do it so I went to wal-mart and got a Schwinn Aluminum Comp. mountain bike. It didn't take me long to realize how much I enjoy this sport. The rear sprocket failed within 125 miles and I took it to the LBS for a repair, while I was there, I test rode a TREK 8.2 and was blown away, I did a little research and decided I wanted an 8.3 because of the lockout fork, for road riding and I can have some suspension for playing with the kids in the yard. Well, I've got my 5 year old doing 8.5 miles a day, I really think he's ready for a quality bicycle and as for me this morning I rode the Schwinn pulling the 3 year old for 10 miles and I did it in 51min. 25 seconds. There are several decent hills on the route I took and I was thinking if I had a better quality hybrid I would have an easier time and possibly do some 25-30 solo rides. I don't think I'd want to pedal the schwinn much more than 15-20 miles, anyway am I ready for a "real" bike or do I need to completely wear out the mountain bike? I will attach a picture of my current rig, I know I'm not wearing a helmet, but we were just posing in the park.

I am happy to be an enabler so yes it is time to buy a new bike! I have the 2011 utopia which I belive is what the 8.3 is now. I love it and can't say enough about it. So I say buy it and welcome to the DS club. You will love how much faster it is then your walmart mountain bike.

am I ready for a "real" bike or do I need to completely wear out the mountain bike?
No reason to torture yourself until the old bike-thing gives up, just get a new, good one :)

If you ask the question, then that means you are ready.

Live dangerously .... go for it. Whatever bike you decide to get and ride, the end result is that you are riding. Just don't think for one moment that it's going to stop here. If you get drawn in by this addiction, you will end up a bike junkie like most of us. Between my wife and I, we have gone through 5 bikes in one year, three of them well over twice the price of a new LBS hybrid. I'm having to stop because it seems harder to get rid of a used bike with the economy the way it is and I'm not willing to give them away.

I wouldn't get rid of the Wally bike since it is going to be harder to ride than a more expensive LBS bike, because when you really want a good workout, a heavier bike is better than a lighter bike when working at your max. It's like weight lifting between 100 lbs and 10 lbs. You may not get in as many reps, but the results is much more dramatic.

Get the new bike and enjoy every pedal stroke.

More bikes, more fun! Although hybrids covers most ground (which means less bikes).