We had a hitch hiker come back with us from Tahoe. I spent Monday after our spring break trip cleaning out both of the cars. Then Wednesday, April 13th, when I went to pick up the kindergartners I noticed some kleenexes had been shredded and thought that was weird. I mentioned to Steve we might have a critter living in the van, but we've never had a problem here so he didn't really think much of it. Then Monday, April 18th when I went in to volunteer I noticed the kleenexes were shredded again and this time I saw droppings.
I called Steve and said we definitely had something living in the van, google what we need to do. So when I got home we left the van out of the garage and Steve dismantled the glove compartment and sure enough found a nest. We put peppermint oil on some cotton balls and set a trap in the van out in the sun hoping the heat and smell would get him to come out. Later that night I thought, you know that little guy has had all week to traverse the garage as much as he'd like to so I asked Steve to set a trap in the garage. What do you know that night when Steve went to pickup Lila from dance at 9:45 the mouse was trapped. I was so glad we caught him so quickly and he hadn't made it into the house. You have no idea how many times Steve or I had told the kids, shut the door and that all came back to my mind. I was hoping he was the only one. I had to take Ellie to an early morning orthodontist appointment on Tuesday. We took the Tesla and when we got there I grabbed a tissue and noticed it had some holes in it. . .Then I found a baggie with a Twix bar in it that had be gnawed through and eaten. Guess we know what he was living off of for the week.
That morning I spent deep cleaning the cars again. Wiping down with clorox wipes and vacuuming. It would also help us recognize if there was another one right away because we could see new signs. Then I went to pick the kindergartners up and Marcus comes running out and yells, "I don't want to get in the rat trap van." Oh my goodness child! I explained I cleaned it all out and we caught the mouse last night and it was a mouse not a rat. And he replies, "mouse, rat, same thing." Just get in the van so I can take you home. UGH! Thankfully no more signs of a mouse. WHEW!
Today after we got the kids off to school (remember it's late start Wednesday) so our last one leaves at 9:40. Steve and I looked at each other and said what should we do for a workout. I suggested a hike and it sounded fun so we both quickly threw on our gear and loaded up. I needed to be back to pickup kindergartners at 11:30 so we went to the close hike Adam's Canyon and we knew we'd have to be fast. I was breathing hard on the way up which I thought was a little disappointing since I've been running and working out but we made it to the top in 43 minutes. We took a few pics, drank some water, and then headed back down. We did the whole thing in 75 minutes. I was super proud of us and it felt good. We even had time to go back to the house before picking up kindergartners.
