4 Months 13 days!
We've hit a small snag. My mother called today and said she'd like to go with us, if she can talk my dad into it. I may have told her the TINIEST of white lies, by omission. I said we were going in May of 2010, which is absolutely true. I neglected to inform her of our March '09 trip. I'm a horrible person, aren't I?

I have my reasons, though.
When I took my oldest son in 2001 (then 6 yrs old), my dad went with us for the whole trip. I love my dad to death, and we had a great time at Epcot, AK, and (then) MGM. It was the best time ever. In the middle of the night before our 4th day, MK day, my mom arrived in all her luggaged glory.
My mother, for reasons I will NEVER understand, insists on bringing every bill, every tax return, every minute piece of paper that means anything to her, EVERYWHERE SHE GOES! On the trip I'm referring to, she brought with her:
1) A SUITCASE full of papers, etc, in case she "had time to go through" them.
2) A suitcase full of pool toys, beach balls, and water wings (she heard there was a pool at the hotel)
3) An "adult disposable diaper" box -- 4ft x 3ft-- full of water noodles and 4 various sized life vests....for 1 kid! (That box was particularly FUN to lug through the hotel. I couldn't explain to the starers that my mom works in a nursing home, and is a bag lady.

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4) A suitcase full of clothes, including extra clothes for my dad, and 3 swimsuits for her. I might add that she didn't actually swim while she was there.
5) Her purse. It is a large, black affair. We call it "the mothership" because she sometimes carries smaller satellite purses as well. Her purse has been known to hold everything from oranges to a doorstop (I kid you not!), and weighs about 60 lbs.
Her purse is the main reason I'd rather she didn't come with us. I'll tell you why.
Picture this:
We get up at 7:30 am to get to MK, since none of us has been there before. The park doesn't open till 9, so we decide to eat breakfast at Waffle House.
We get done eating and head for the car--all except my mom, who suddenly feels the need to go use the payphone to check in at work (she was and is security supervisor at a nursing home). After rummaging for 10 minutes through the mothership, she comes up with enough change to call Cuba. She makes her phone call, and proceeds to stay on the phone for 45 minutes!! The rest of us are broiling in the car, and muttering dark words at her by the time she gets done.
We arrive at the park at 9:50. Grr. Then we spend another 45 minutes at bag check, because the mothership contains scissors, nail clippers, a pocketknife, and God knows what else. All I know is it took forever, and she complained the rest of the day about her crap getting confiscated. (Honestly, they just made her put the stuff in a locker behind the counter. It's not like she didn't get it back, or anything.

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Then, because she walks like a turtle, we all have to walk slowly through the park so she can keep up. We were on bad terms that day, my mom and I.
At one point I took her purse for a minute, so she could go to the loo without it. Aside from the fact that my arm almost fell off, I was amazed at her sudden burst of speed as she headed to the restroom. Then I put 2 and 2 together--the purse was weighing her down. And us!
It took us SO long to get through the park, that at closing time we still hadn't seen Pirates or anything else in that area of the park. I was MAD! To make matters worse, it rained for an hour in the middle of the day, and mom insisted on sitting in Liberty Tree the whole time. We had just eaten, so what was the point?
All in all, it was a bad day. The next 2 days she spent with my aunt, who'd recently moved to Orlando. My dad, ds and I spent the 2 days at Universal and SeaWorld and saw EVERYTHING.
7 years later, I still hold a grudge. So no, my mother is NOT invited

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Anyway, the GOOD news is that I went to Home Depot and got about a million mickey heads for our Pop window! From some of the other posts, I had gathered that they were all lime green. I was so glad to see different colors! I got lavendar, an eggplant-y type shade of purple, and a really pretty shade of teal/ green. Then I felt like a thief, so I bought a flower pot and some plastic gloves I didn't really need.
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More later!