1. Road trip – vacation means going away from home. Even if it’s just a mile away to my parents’ home. That still totally counts!
2. Not dieting! Vacation means taking a break from my regular life. Which means I don’t obsess and calorie count. If I feel like eating a dozen donuts for a mid-day snack, that’s totally awesome. Because I’m on vacation – and everyone knows that vacation calories don’t count… until you get home!
3. Exploring – I’m a do-er (when I’m not a sleeper, reader, or sun-bather) I love to get out and DO things. Preferably things I couldn’t/wouldn’t do in an ordinary day. Sightseeing, hiking, wandering aimlessly thru a museum – these are all good things!
4. Not set an alarm clock! This should be my number one, but occasionally even on vacation it still happens. Like when you need to catch the 9:00 bus to make the 10:00 ferry cruise around Manhattan. But aside from the exception, my very favorite thing is going to bed knowing I won’t be woken up by an incessant MEEP MEEP MEEP! Oh, that is the BEST!!
5. Dressing for the weather outside and not the insanely cold temperature of my office! I hate when it’s 80 degrees outside and I still need to make sure I brought a coat to work, to put on when I walk IN the door!!
6. Hanging out with my kids. Now this IS my number one favorite thing. Getting to do fun stuff and connect with my kids on their level. Vacation is where I get to be the fun mom. Let’s ride rollercoasters! Let’s eat ice cream for breakfast! Let’s laugh until someone wets their pants (oh, that would be me!)
7. Being spontaneous. Everyday is normally mapped out and scheduled to death. When we are in vacation-mode, I try to leave a certain level of fluidity. So that we can do what we feel like doing, not necessarily what the schedule says we have to do. I’m more of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl. Hard to do with 5 kids, especially ones on the autism spectrum. But I feel it’s important for kids to have flexibility and an ability to go with the flow.
8. Being outside. Whether it’s the beach, mountains or Disneyland – I’m an outdoorsy kinda-girl. I work inside all day long every freakin’ day. When I’m on vaca, I need to be OUTSIDE in the fresh air and sunshine!!
9. Doing something out of the ordinary. I think that one’s pretty self-explanatory!
10. Crossing off one of the 101 things to do in 1001 days list over there in the sidebar! Goes along with #9. Spring break next month, I’m taking my two older boys on a camping trip – we’re going white-water rafting (#38), kayaking (#37) and to Universal Studios (#18)!! It’s going to be totally AWESOME!!
And if you want to play along too: 
