I’m not sure if I mentioned it or not (just kidding, I know I’ve been insufferable) but the McGills went to WrestleMania! And it was every bit as awesome as I thought it could be. So awesome, in fact, that I’m just now getting started on this post because it turns out post-vacation adulting is really, really hard and I’ve been exhausted. I’ve also had a terrible time trying to narrow down what to mention here, so fair warning, this one’s a little long.

This was the whole family’s first ever vacation that was longer than a weekend, and it actually went swimmingly, so let’s start with some travel tips that I discovered along the way. (Most of you probably travel way more than we do, feel free to skip ahead.)

1. Traveling with a child? Headphones, headphones, headphones! And I mean the good, almost soundproof kind. Brody was able to play Battle Golf and watch his Annoying Orange and we were able to listen to podcasts with profanity the entire drive time and everyone was happy.
2. Book decent hotels. I’m not talking luxury, valet parking places or anything, but find places that you don’t spend your entire trip being concerned about. A decent continental breakfast doesn’t hurt a thing, either. (We stayed in a Fairfield Inn, a Hyatt Place and a Springhill Suites in case anyone’s actually curious.)
3. Eat somewhere you can’t at home. Sure, we hit up a couple of chain restaurants along the way, but even then we picked ones we couldn’t get around good old western Kentucky. The only drawback to this is you’ll now want food you can’t get anymore. I’m still dreaming about gelato I had in Texarkana and and a vanilla coffee infused porter from a brewery in Little Rock, but it’s a small price to pay to actually get to try these things.

Now, onto the wrestling!

For starters, it’s just absolutely awesome to go to a city hosting WrestleMania if you’re a fan. There’s huge signs and billboards all over town and everyone is walking around in their WWE Shop finest and they’re all in a good mood, because, well, they’re at freaking WrestleMania! It’s amazing.

We did the fan Axxess event on Saturday. Justin and Brody got their picture with Adam Rose in the Elimination Chamber, and I got to stand next to a Dusty Rhodes statue and Roddy Piper’s gear. It’s a good time.

Of course, the big show is the main reason everyone’s there, and it didn’t disappoint. This in no way means I was completely thrilled with all the match outcomes (the Ambrose/Lesnar match was shockingly short, and I wanted Sasha to get that title), but WrestleMania is more about having fun and watching the spectacle and it delivered in those aspects. I saw the Rock walking around with a flame thrower and Stone Cold actually stunning people – trust me, it delivered.

Getting into the actual event was pretty hellish (AT&T Stadium – you should know better! Organize your crowds and maybe don’t yell at them when they just want to know where to go) and I did have to listen to a guy try to explain wrestling to his girlfriend for most of the show, even though it was clear she knew as much as he did, but other than that, it was just great.

The highlights:

• Brody’s commentary. I think he may be lobbying for Michael Cole’s job with all the work he was putting in. I briefly worried about him annoying the other fans until I saw the guy in front of laughing and telling Justin that our son is hilarious and was adding to his entertainment.
• We saw Brie Bella’s last match (at least for now) and it was actually pretty sweet. She had kind of won me over recently, and it’s a little sad to see her go.
• The hideous butterfly Divas Championship belt is gone! It has been replaced with a shiny new lovely Women’s Championship and everyone’s happy. (And the women put on the best wrestled match, to me, of the night for it.)
• That IC Title Ladder Match! Cody Rhodes/Stardust showed off a super sweet Dusty tribute, Sami Zayn did some crazy moves and Zack Ryder won. Woo woo woo!
• Shane McMahon jumped off the cell. And I realized I am now way too much of a mom to watch that without almost having a heart attack myself.
• Cena came back. Only for about five minutes, but it was long enough for Brody to lose his damn mind.
• Monday Night Raw. We stuck around  for the Raw After Mania and got to see Enzo and Cass debut and Cesaro’s return. I had an extremely happy husband.

The best part about all of this? When we got back to the hotel room, Justin and I realized that between the two of us we only had about six pictures from Mania and Raw together. We actually stayed in the moment and experienced the event. We’ve got to try to remember to do that more. Also, we stayed off the internet (the wrestling talk part anyway) and away from everyone else’s opinions for the weekend. It was delightful!

Now, back to post-vacation laundry and planning how to get to Orlando for next year’s show.