The Battle of the Dragonflies

Our nephew Sam spent the night last night, and so we did what any other rational aunt and uncle do under such circumstances... we took him and our son up the canyon to tire the little cherubs out. You know, in order for them to sleep well that night.

Our canyon of choice is Hobble Creek Canyon because it is close by and it is so beautiful and we frequent it often. When we loaded up in the car, Ethan and Sam wanted to bring a set of walkie-talkies. I don't know why because it wasn't like we were ever going to get separated and we aren't talking heavy terrain here. The world of little boys is still one of deep and profound mystery to me, so I didn't question it and agreed to their little request as it made them happy. I was less than happy when they discovered that when they pressed on the morse code button it sounded an awful lot like a machine gun that hadn't gone through puberty yet. So between the prebuscent machine gun noise in the back seat and the little Donald Duck voices they were making, it was the longest longest short drive up to Hobble Creek Canyon I have ever had the pleasure to yet experience.

All this, however, was worth it. Once we arrived we saw something quite unique. Strangely enough, there seems to be a plethora of dragonflies. I do not know what you call a group of dragonflies; that has yet to be featured in an article of The Smithsonian -- the magazine where I usually learn all my other random facts. But I digress. There were literally hundreds flying in the air. And this is when the walkie-talkies really came in handy.

Ethan and Sam decided that these dragonflies were really a menace to society. Therefore, they must be obliterated. Out came the walkie-talkies, and out came the machine gun noises. I am sure I wasn't supposed to condone such dragonfly-violence. But Jonathan and I couldn't stop laughing long enough. Ethan and Sam, most assuredly, shot down each and every dragonfly in that canyon, and if not, then scared away the rest. After pausing to discuss strategy, the boys realized that dragonflies really weren't going anywhere. Did that deter them from their efforts? Nope. They pressed forward, ever faithful in their task.

They slept soundly that night.