I told Emily to brainstorm some ideas for her writing project.  She created a full-page mind map which looked completely normal until I noticed that the center circle contained “Um…”

“Here I am, pining for my lost youth…”
– Shannon, getting ready for the day, sighing at her reflection

“No worries, Honey! They’re downstairs eating breakfast.”
– John, being helpful and making his wife laugh

“I need to write that down somewhere: dah dah da-dah, dah da-dah, dah dah da-DAH, dah dah daah daah DAAH. Because every time I think about how it goes, I think: daah daah, da-da-da-DAAH dah, da-da-da-DAAH dah, da-da-da-daaah.”
– Amanda, explaining her tendency to confuse two popular movie themes (A gold star if you can figure out what themes she “sung”)

“I’m frankly stunned by the quality of what’s streaming over the Internet to my television right now.”
– John, Upon firing up Netflix streaming for the first time

“That’s because you’re a geek who understands how things have changed. The rest of us just expect magic.”
– Shannon

“You know, sweetie, I won’t be wearing my wedding ring during my triathlon … you may want to be there to beat back the female competitors.”
– John, 3k into a 5k run with Shannon

“Just run faster than they do … I mean, it *is* a race, after all …”
– Shannon, 17 years into being married to John

“This hasn’t been washed… or if it has, it was with a stick of butter…”
– Shannon, upon retrieving a pot that the girls “washed”

First stop: the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, as we approach their newly opened “Dinosaur Trail”

“It’s starting to get a little Jurassic-y around here!”

Next stop: the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, leaving the “Warhol’s Polaroids” exhibit (which was more of historic interest than artistic, IMHO)…

“Well, he sure had a lot of fun with his camera!”

… and leaving the museum…

“Amanda?”
– John

“Yes?”
– Amanda

“Did you like the museum?”
– John

“Yes?”
– Amanda, unconvincingly

“Do you want to go there again?”
– John, trying to get to the truth

“Maybe when I’m older, and I appreciate ‘art’ more.”
– Amanda

On the way to the last stop (Northgate Mall’s merry-go-round), driving through the day-long rainstorm, now a massive downpour…

“I sure am glad we didn’t go to the zoo!”

… and on the way home…

“So, what was your favorite part?”
– John, curiously

“I think my favorite part was…”
– Amanda, interrupted

“You’re not allowed to say ‘the merry-go-round’. If you say ‘the merry-go-round’, then next year we’re going to the merry-go-round, riding it twice, and then going home.”
– John, despairing

“Oh… in that case it was the Dinosaur Trail.”
– Amanda, prudently

(During a conversation in which Shannon and I seriously consider getting some hens to raise in our pet-less, fenced-in backyard)

“We could name one ‘Henny’ and one ‘Penny’…”
– Emily

“… and one ‘Nickel’!”
– Amanda