Ticks!

So Leo's doing well enough, and well enough right after chemo that a little light hiking is ok - in fact, the vet recommended that we do things with him, since that's why we're doing this, after all.  So, I decided to take him hiking, with Luna, up in the Sterling Forest Preserve - close by, easy hikes, and I've not been there before.  The downside of this is that 1) he's just had chemo, and 2) I couldn't frontline him, since he's on chemo.  That was not a good thing.
It's been a solid day of tick patrol, and I'm officially the worst daddy ever.  I was doing tick checks.  I checked me and them, and saw a few but got rid of them quickly.  But we must have parked in a tick bush or something, or they just like Leo, because by the time we were on the GW, I was seeing them - on his face, on his head. I picked them off (hello, distracted driving) and threw a handful out the window, and knew I had to do a major tick check when I got home.
When we got go Greenpoint, I found another couple on Leo and a couple on Luna.  These were free-roaming ticks, not attached, but still - ew.  So, into the tub they went.  Tea tree shampoo, a good drying and some more of the natural tick repellent spray they'd been on when we hiked.  When all was said and done, another few ticks were in the drain (that I could see) and a few more in the towels. 
So everything went into the washing machine, on hot - EVERYTHING.  And then everything went into the dryer.  EVERYTHING.  Another night time tick check, another couple of ticks, but we were done...
Until morning.  When I kept finding them.  Another round of tick checks, but this time, they were attached.  I started pulling them off Leo - first one on his head, then a few on the ears, then a few more on the ears.  Soon I was seeing them everywhere.  12 ticks later, I thought I had them all. 
I sprayed Leo down with bug spray, made sure Luna's frontline was all set (she had a few, but not many), and made a slightly concerned phone call to Lisa.  We needed to do something.  Luckily, her store washes dogs and had some time.  I was going to bring them by the store for a thorough cleaning and de-ticking. 
So, on Monday, I took them in, thinking they'd get a few off the dogs and that would be that.  Two dozen off Leo and a few off Luna later, and I felt like a heel - my hiking trip had turned into a tick nightmare.  I was cleaning my apartment, spraying tick killer around, vacuuming, washing and drying everything (again), and hoping that my dogs didn't have Lyme or anaplasm or rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or whatever - heck, for all I knew I had Lyme and the cat was infested! 
After the thorough de-ticking at the store and a good washing, everyone seemed ok.  Leo's toxic, so they shouldn't last long on him, and Luna's frontlined, so that's good, and Bit's protected as well.  So we'll see, we'll keep checking - but it's a nightmare.  And I'm going to vacuum again.