A Family Hike

We went for a hike early this morning up to one of Aaron’s hunting spots. It was beautiful with wildflowers everywhere and a little creek and the view of the mountain tops. We told Luna we would probably see some wild animals. She was so thrilled to finally get to meet a sea turtle. We told her it was unlikely a wild sea turtle would be in the mountains, but she was undeterred and clasped her happy hands to her face and squealed,”Sea turtles are THE BEST! I can’t wait to see one!”

As we walked along, I stopped to flick a piece of dirt off of Luna’s back. It was not dirt. It was a tick. Which I have not seen since moving to Idaho almost 18 years ago. And these puppies are a childhood fear of mine. As I screeched “TICK” and flicked it away, I saw another tick in her hair. And another on her shoe. And another on her chest. So I’m freaking out and flicking them all to kingdom come as Aaron languidly says,”Oh Sunny, I haven’t seen a tick ever in my life and in all the years I’ve been hunting this spot I’ve never had a tick on me. Are you suuuuure it’s ticks??” UMMM YES HUNNY I KNOW WHAT A TICK LOOKS LIKE. 

We continued walking once I had them all off of her. And then I looked down and saw TWO MORE on her. So I restarted my tick flick freak out dance while telling Aaron,”OMG I TOLD YOU IT’S TICKS LOOK AT THIS.” At which point Aaron realized he had two ticks crawling up his legs. At which point I realized I had ticks on me as well. At which point I realized this is how wildfires get started because I was ready to light that place up. We got as cleaned up as we could and finished up our hike. When we got back to the car I decided to strip down both babies to make sure they were tick free. Daphne was clear, but Luna wasn’t. Anyway, long story short we ended up all in our underwear turning our clothes inside out checking each other’s butts for ticks. I was happy to leave all our clothes right there in the woods and go home naked, but Aaron said we needed clothing to stop for breakfast which was a good point. 

We had breakfast and ice cream at Hutton’s General Store (near Gozzer Ranch). I LOVE this spot. It has a great camp vibe. It was my first time there, but Aaron goes for lunch quite a bit with co workers. It’s an old ice cream parlor and serves pizza and sandwiches as well. They have an adorable front porch and great patio at the back of the property overlooking the lake. It was super peaceful that early in the day. We were the only ones there.

A series of photos in which you can see the mischief oozing from Daphne. She is so naughty! And some hair pulling as Luna tries to escape her baby sister. Luna is covering her face in the family picture because Daphne kept scratching her. And you can see Daphne’s satisfaction in a job well done. Just well pleased. I’ve started scratching her back when she scratches us (which is ALL THE TIME), and she cries horribly over her hurt feelings like how could I do this to her?? Just a mean mother!

And then we took the long, winding, windows down road home. As Luna confidently said,”I bet mama and dada ticks just love their yukky little babies”.

Then we came home to shower, put tick clothes in the laundry, and have naps. It’s only 1PM and I feel like we just had a mini vacation. A truly great morning which not even ticks could ruin.