Welcome to TE! I'm not sure I'd want to ride clipless with a child either! No kidding on the starting and stopping. What kind of pedals did you get? Anyway, as far as the hotspots go, try some metatarsal buttons or insoles with them. Defeet has them and so does Specialized. Made a world of difference to me. As far as another bike for touring, I have had a 7.2fx and that would be a wonderful bike to take out with your kids. Not sure why he pointed you to the 7.3...

You may not know this about us, but we are all about enabling. We want you to have lots of bikes. You NEED a road bike, another for touring, a mountain bike and then a mixte. I am very proud of this thread because I started it and I feel personally responsible for many TE members laying out cash for these bikes! The mixtes are the most fun.