I'm taking 10 days off of work for a family wedding, some medical stuff, and some family vacation just being away. But we're also spending part of it at home to get a normal night's sleep or two, laundry, etc.
We've always said we want to take vacation at home, which with small children makes a ton of sense: familiar beds and routines, a big supply of clean clothes, and no need to have EVERY meal in a public place where you worry about disturbing everyone in the restaurant/ house you're staying in. I won't say which days we are home, but here's what I've learned so far:
1. Cancel the mail for the whole time
2. Tell no one you may be home even part of the time.
3. Leave open the option of sending the kids to child care/ school, for your own peace of mind.
4. Skip the extracurriculars.
5. Put on the "out of office" assistant.
6. Don't look at work related email, period. If you can't stand to see a header and not read it, don't check it.
7. Bring out an early birthday present or two for the kids just to keep things fun and interesting.
8. Cancel the newspaper.
9. Avert your eyes from the piles of laundry, correspondence, recycling, work-related reading, etc. etc. etc.
And finally, if you cannot do #9 without setting to "work" at home, get the heck out of town.
