Lice, and Laundry, and Bear Spray, Oh my....

I would have happily taken lions, and tigers, and bears.  It would have been simpler.

A couple weeks ago my head was itching fiercely.  Out of desperation I asked Michael to check my head to see if I had a rash.  Nope, I had lice.  It was horrifying. We checked the kids.  Sam and the girls had lice.  We all had lice!  Where, why, how?  After a flurry of unanswerable questions, I went a little crazy.  I bought RID, I bought tea tree oil, I bought mayonnaise.  I bought a nit comb.  I blow dried everyone's hair. I did every treatment the internet suggested, medical professionals and bloggers alike.  I listened to friends who fought lice before.  I went nuclear on the little bugs. I washed ten loads of laundry.  I ran all the stuffed animals and pillows through the dryer.  Hats and bike helmets got cleaned or put away. All the brushes and combs got washed and put through the dryer.  Heat kills lice!

After the first couple of days of insect genocide, Michael found the Nuvo Method of lice removal.  I was impressed with the statistics and scientific testing.  For the subsequent treatments, we switched gears and used the Nuvo method which requires brushing a certain brand of cleanser through the hair and then blow-drying it until completely dry.  While this is highly effective, it is more time consuming.  Look at her hair.  Treating her hair took years off mine and Michael's lives.

We persevered.  Everyone is fully treated.  There have been no more occurrences of bugs.  I realize most people have had to deal with lice at some point in their life.  Hopefully this was my time and I can now be done with it.  Having to rewash all their bedding every week has just about killed me.  I told the kids that next time we are just shaving everyone's head and moving to a hotel for three weeks.  They did not appreciate my suggestion.

***

Just over a week after the discovery of lice, but completely unrelated, Grace and Sam were playing in the backyard.  I was on my way to call them in when I heard screaming and wailing.  Sam was crying and saying he was sorry and Grace was crying loud enough that I figured we were heading for the ER.  They came in crying and screaming while Sam kept sobbing, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry".  I couldn't see any obvious injuries, so I asked what happened.  Grace choked out, "Sam sprayed me in the eyes with bug spray!"

I hurried her to the bathroom, had her lean over the tub, and started spraying her eyes with the shower wand.  I asked Sam to go find the bug spray.  He left only to come back thirty seconds later sobbing that he couldn't find it and his eyes stung.  So I leaned him over the tub and alternated spraying their eyes.  Meanwhile my eyes and throat started to burn, my nose was running and my eyes were tearing up.  I could not figure out why bug spray would be so potent and why Grace and Sam were still nearly hysterical.  I asked Sam where he had found the bug spray and Grace sobbed out, "I said *bear* spray, not bug spray."  Everything started to make more sense now.

I continued spraying them down while hollering at my phone to find the number of poison control.  I love "OK, Google"! I knew bear spray was non-toxic but I figured poison control might have some advice on how to get all of the bear spray off the kids.  While still spraying their eyes and waiting for the call to connect, I started stripping the clothes off the kids to get them fully in the tub.  This called for a complete detox.  Plus the bathroom floor was starting to look like a lake.

The nice lady at poison control suggested rubbing alcohol would help with the burn.  I rubbed some all over Grace's very red and blotchy face and she immediately stopped crying, "That does feel better," she stated in a perfectly calm voice.  Hallelujah! We rubbed some on her shoulders and hands as well as her hair (take that any remaining lice: bear spray and alcohol!).  I then rubbed Sam down with alcohol.  We may have all been a little loopy from the fumes but there was a lot less pain.

After putting all their clothes and towels in the wash (yay, for more laundry!) I finally got the whole story.  Michael had been rearranging the shed and camping supplies.  He had left the bear spray, that we had taken to Yellowstone several years ago, on a workbench and warned to kids to leave it alone.  Grace and Sam found it.  Sam swore it was bear spray.  Grace thought it looked like a water bottle.  They argued.  Sam decided to prove himself right and sprayed the bear spray away from them (I shudder to think what a full blast would have been like).  Sam won the argument but they both ended up losing.

Camel's Back Park

We love this park although we don't go very often.  The little kids played on the playground.  Libby, Ethan, and I hit some tennis balls around.  Then we all hiked up the hill.  I love the view up here.  We may have to go in a couple more weeks when there is more fall color.

Ethan insisted I hike a side trail down with him, instead of sliding and slithering down the front of the hill.  He kept enthusing about the view and how we needed to photograph it.  As I was hiking down, all I saw was a parking lot, a pond, and some trees.  I was confused.  When I reached the bottom, Ethan was almost bouncing with his excitement of the view.  I was still very confused.  What was he seeing that I was missing?  He then said, "Turn around mom; look back the way you came."

 Yep, he was right.  It was an incredible view.

Captain Underpants Flew into Boise

I lied. Sorry. Captain Underpants did not visit Boise.  Dav Pilkey, the creator of Captain Underpants is the person who visited Boise!  Which to a book nerd is even better.  We were able to get free tickets from our local library to attend his presentation at the Egyptian Theater downtown. 

While waiting to go in the kids took lots of selfies with DogMan, a character in Pilkey's newest book.

We waited patiently for the event to begin.  And we were well rewarded.  Mr. Pilkey is an excellent speaker.  He had the kids howling with laughter, a theater full of kids laughing about underpants is hilarious all by itself.  I loved him too.  He didn't speak down to the kids. He talked about his struggle with ADHD and dyslexia.  He spoke about how his second grade teacher told him he couldn't draw comic books for the rest of his life.  I guess he proved her wrong! 

 He even drew pictures for a few lucky kids at the end.  Sorry for the awful picture, but the event creators asked the audience not to use flash, so this is as good as it got.

One last picture before we went.  Also I refuse to believe that Ethan is that much taller than me.  He still loves Captain Underpants though, so he isn't completely grown up.

Art for Kids Hub

A friend told me about a YouTube channel (art for kids hub) that has drawing instructions for kids.  The first few times we attempted a drawing adventure, there were a variety of tears.  Children were upset their lines weren't right or the eye was too big, or the colors were wrong. After a few attempts though, their perfectionism started to wear away and now they love this drawing channel.  These are their latest attempts. 

Fit for Life

I decided to sign up my entire family for a 5K!  This will be awesome and fun, I thought.  We will all enjoy walking together (I wasn't foolish enough to sign us all up to jog)!  It will be a great family experience!  Other people enjoy this!  The kids are free if I register today!

So I signed us all up without consulting the smaller members of my household. This was a mistake.  They were not enthused.  There was a lot of whining.  The day before the race, I was the only person who still wanted to do it.  I was very frustrated and tired of arguing, so I told the kids they didn't have to come.  They could stay home with their dad.  I would give a spare registration to my sister and the two of us would do the race.  They quickly changed their mind about the race.  Now everyone wanted to join. *sigh*

Saturday morning we biked downtown to where the race started.  Looked how excited they are to race!  Ethan cannot even contain his excitement.

When the race gun went off, Sam asked if this was the race.  I affirmed it was and he took off jogging.  I had to walk quickly to keep up.  This lasted for about 1/4 mile, after which he walked the rest of the way.

Around mile two I wasn't sure if we were going to make it the rest of the way.  Grace's legs were getting tired and I was tired of pulling along whining children and dodging strollers.  It is a very crowded "race".

But...we made it.  Mile three!  The finish line is right behind us!  I did not keep track of how long it took us to finish the course.  It is probably better that way!  The important thing is that we finished.  And there was food at the end, including chocolate milk.  The kids found it in their heart to forgive me for signing them up.  Chocolate milk is miraculous.