So, in a burst of spontaneous spending (is there any other kind with me?) I bought a block of tickets for the symphony this last weekend. I've been wanting to take the kids for a while now, but given that they are more wiggly than The Wiggles, I wanted to wait until I was sure they'd behave.

After securing four tickets, and arranging childcare for my youngest, I broke the good news.

"We're going to the symphony!"

My husband rolled his eyes. My oldest started to cry. My son ignored me.

"Why are you crying?" I asked my daughter.

"I...I...I..." she gasped between sobs. "I...I...um..."

"Oh, for God's sake just spit it out. Why are you CRYING?" I was baffled.

"I just don't want to go-oh-oh-oh." Waa, boo-hoo, etc.

Ignoring her for the time being, I clapped my hands together, and told the kids that we were going to go see Michael Krajewski conducting the Santa Rosa Symphony in Movie Music Magic of John Williams. They would know the songs! They should be happy! Woo! Yeah! Then I did a Right Punch.

My daughter sobbed into her hands. My husband drank his coffee. My son continued to ignore me.

It wasn't quite the reaction I was looking for, but whatever. Undeterred! Don't mess with my enthusiasm!

An hour before the show started, I dropped my youngest off with my sister, and returned home to force my family into the van for a little cultural excitement. My son was sort-of "meh" about the whole thing, but my daughter burst into noisy tears once again.

Okay, seriously. What in the hell is going on with this kid? Booo hoooo waaaaaa I don't want to go waaaaaaa.

I ignored her and revved up the engine. We's going to git us some cull-chure, so y'all jest need to shut it and act civil-like fore I opens up a can o' whoop-ass on y'all.

We arrived at the venue, to discover that every senior citizen within a 100 mile radius had tickets too. My daughter sobbed quietly as we marched to will-call for our tickets. Luckily our seats were at the edge of the theatre, and towards the back.

The show got underway quickly, with several familiar themes. Conductor Michael Krajewski was surprisingly funny, and the orchestra was great, as always. My kids, however, were attempting to curl themselves into aardvark-shaped balls in their seats, and in general being odd. They were silent, but wiggly.

After a few whispered threats, they managed to sit up and behave until intemission, where we stormed the cookie and juice line for fortification, and made it back to our seats without further tears or fetal-positioning.

After a few selections featuring the choir, they busted out the big guns. Star Wars, baby.

Hilariously, Darth Vader stormed the stage midway through the first selection and nudged the conductor off the stage, finishing conducting the piece with the aid of his light saber. The kids were interested in this development.

Later, when playing the music from the final scene of the first Star Wars, several lines of Stormtroopers filed into the auditorium, and made their way in formation down the aisles. It was really funny - like a Stormtrooper prom or something. Then they shuffled out as the music faded.

After an encore from Superman, we returned to the lobby, happy that the kids had mellowed out. Darth Vader and the crew of Stormtroopers were hanging out in the lobby, and alas, my camera was at home. I would have loved to take a few mugshots.

All in all, I don't know that we'll be taking the kids to the symphony again any time soon. We still don't know what my daughter's problem was. But the concert itself was fantastic.