What a week, what a week it's been! As Zach-O-Man was quick to point out our first day back home, "I guess the vacation is OVER" (sigh). Indeed it is! But before we get to the juicy stuff, let's recap some of our happier memories, before my world changed forever (to be dramatic).
Our first week back from vacation it rained, and rained, and rained some more. It was a very fitting North Carolina welcome back, so Saturday we wanted to get out of the house, but were stuck looking for something to do indoors! We decided to visit the Airborne & Special Ops museum in Fayetteville.
Jon and I had both heard it was a must-see, and I'd have to agree. It's done by the Smithsonian, so a lot of money and information has gone into the different exhibits. It basically tells the story of how the Special Forces came to be, starting with the paratroopers in WWII. The exhibits were all very life-like, so you began by walking through a village in France on D-Day, just like a paratrooper who had been dropped in.
You then continue on through the Korean War, Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and all of the current War on Terrorism stuff the Special Forces guys are doing now, here at Fort Bragg. It was definitely a cool museum, and it was free, so it ended up being the perfect outing for a rainy afternoon.
Earlier this week I was telling Jon how some friends of ours who frequent the gym had found lice in their kids' hair, and how there was a sign posted in the Kids Center that it was going around. I jokingly said, "Our kids will never get lice because I won't let them!" Well, never tempt fate because those were my famous last words! I checked Leah's hair Wednesday night because I'd seen some weird brown spots while washing it earlier that morning, and sure enough she and Lucy both had heads full of nits and lice! I was understandably horrified, and immediately sent Jon out to get the medicated shampoo, which we used on everyone (minus Jon who's head is shaved), myself included since Lucy always uses my hair brush.
Then the "nit-picking" began (this experience certainly sheds new light on where that expression came from), which is quite possibly the most meticulous, frustrating, insane process in the whole world. You can see from the picture just how microscopic they are. When each lice can lay up to 300 eggs in its lifetime, you can imagine just how filled with nits Lucy's thick, coarse hair was. It was not an experience I'd ever wish on anyone! We finally got the kids to bed by 11:30 p.m. that night.
Here is about a 1/3 of the mountain of laundry I had to work my way through the last few days. I think my washer and dryer ran for about 48 hours straight. We pretty much left the hair alone Thursday (according to the medicated shampoo directions which says it has residual effects for 48 hours), but by Friday morning I really wanted to wash my own hair and check for bugs. I started flat ironing my hair at like 500 degrees (they hate high heat) and I had THREE suicide jumpers fall onto my shirt in the first couple of minutes. Live ones! (Shudder) So pretty much the $25 shampoo we bought was just junk and although it killed some of the lice, some were obviously resistant to it. I don't recommend using it!
Zach's beautiful blonde locks had stayed lice free as well up until this point (we also washed his hair with the medicated shampoo), but by Friday afternoon he had nits, and I LOST it!! We decided to shave his head, since Jon and I already had three full heads of hair to pick through. I wanted to pull out my hair (another expression that must have originated from lice)! I think Zach and I both cried when we shaved it. We spent probably 5-6 hours on Friday evening soaking everyone's hair in coconut oil (like mayonnaise it supposedly suffocates them and makes the nits easier to comb out), washing, nit-picking, meticulously blow drying, and then flat ironing just to be sure. Phew.
We had planned Lucy's celebratory Harry Potter party for Friday night (she finished "HP and The Goblet of Fire" a few weeks ago), had invited some of her friends over, made all of the treats, but I couldn't in good conscience expose them to the lice since I didn't feel like we had it under control just yet, and she was devastated. We decided to just do a family party instead and make the best of it since we had all the treats! Here we are enjoying some delicious butter beer! Cheers!
So in between picking nits and killing lice we dined on chocolate frogs!
Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Cauldron Cakes (pictured), Pumpkin Pasties, and pizza.
Saturday morning I was in desperate need of a break. Jon will be working late this coming Monday night, leaving this Wednesday until Saturday night, then leaving next Monday morning again until next Wednesday night, then working late next Thursday-- so if you're counting (which I am), that's me left ALONE to wage war on the lice for 9 days. Heaven help me! That called for the beach.
You can't tell from the picture, but about 5 minutes after we got to the beach it started POURING rain! And I mean raining cats and dogs-- for about 20 minutes. We just stood under the umbrella and I wondered when we were going to catch a break! Thankfully the cloud burst moved on and we got some pretty good sunshine for the rest of the afternoon.
I'd checked Lucy and Leah first thing that morning and hadn't found a single live lice, just a couple of dead nits, and Jon hadn't found anything on mine (my hair is a dried out, flat-ironed, chemical WRECK, but I don't care!), so I felt pretty confident the sun, sand, and salt water would only do us good!
I'm alive!! But barely!! If anything I'm only more OCD than ever, driving Jon nuts with all my boiling, disinfecting, and cleaning, but I need some peace of mind. And every time my head itches I feel like it HAS to be lice, even though it's more likely a really, really dry scalp. I've been traumatized.
I figure this will be our last day at the beach for 2014, so we tried to make the most of it and play in the warm water and sand as long as possible. The kids loved it!
We finished the day off with dinner at Five Guys, and some power shopping at the Outlet Malls. As of this morning, again NO lice, and even fewer nits and egg casings, so I'm hoping the tide has turned in our favor on the battlefield...but I'll keep you posted. Lice are NOT nice.
