Last weekend, I surprised my 12-year-old, yet again, with an adventure.

You see, I’ve found that if I give him any inkling or warning, he’ll concoct some sort of an excuse or reason why we shouldn’t go places or do things.

I’ll have to admit, I’ve had to drag him to some fairly boring events as a child in the name of this gig. For example, have you ever tried to make a gem and mineral show sound riveting to a small boy, especially one that has zero interest in rocks or any shape or size? I could sell an air conditioner to an Eskimo, except he is starting to catch on after all these years.

Earlier this month, I previewed the list of upcoming shows at Dayton’s Schuster Center and saw the Blue Man Group was on the marquee.

I’ve never seen the show and weird blue aliens splattering the audience with paint and Captain Crunch while playing the drums sounded something like a 12 year-old boy would enjoy.

The biggest mistake I made however was simply asking the 12-year-old boy if he’d like to attend the show with his cool, hip, open-minded, visual arts-loving mother. It wasn’t like I was forcing him to see “Cats” or anything.

I showed Evan a YouTube clip of the artists in blue and what a the show would entail.

“Do I have to dress up all fancy?” was the only major concern he seemed to have.

Now, I know the dress code of attending such cultural events has wavered over the years, but I figured if the front row of the audience had to wear ponchos to keep the slime and cereal off their clothes, a 12 year-old in clean jeans and a hoodie wouldn’t reflect poorly on his mother’s parenting. I put way too much thought in to such things, I know.

Anyhow, after we watched a bit of the show online, Evan didn’t seem all that interested in spending a Friday evening with his mother to watch the royal blue aliens leap about the theater.

Too bad. I bought the tickets anyway. After Evan got home from school, I advised him to take a nap because we would be out on the town for several hours later that evening. I just didn’t tell him where. So when we pulled up to the Schuster Center’s parking garage, he wasn’t exactly thrilled.

When I explained that I bought tickets to see The Blue Man Group, he seemed vaguely intrigued — at least enough to get out of the car.

As we walked across the street, Evan was enamoured of the man playing the saxophone outside of the theater. This country kid was in awe that someone would play his band instrument outdoors on the street. Like the sweet kid he can be, he pulled a dollar out of his pocket and placed it in the case.

The man stopped playing and offered to get a picture with Evan, which I took before we went inside.

We took our seats and enjoyed the show. I’m not really sure how to describe The Blue Man Group other than it was like a rock concert, a Gallagher show, a social commentary and rave all rolled into one.

Evan laughed and enjoyed the entire show from beginning to end, especially the iPad password skit. He could relate to the skit where the Blue men can’t seem to figure out their passwords all too well since I change his passwords to his gadgets all the time.

We ended the evening with his dinner choice — McDonald’s — before we headed home back to the farm.

His favorite part of the evening — taking a selfie with the saxophone player.

I guess that’s what I get for trying to expand the cultural horizons of a 12-year-old boy.