Well, I am in the early retirement camp on this one. To me retirement just means that I get to do what I want to all day. That doesn't mean working is out of the question, just that it will be on my terms.
I may do nothing, I may work part time for 20 hours or less a week, or I might do the 'mini retirement' like you say and work full time for a few months and then be off for many more. Could be a combination. What I really enjoy is my side gig of selling on eBay/Amazon, so more than likely it will be that until it is no longer fun. :D
i feel the same...retirement to me is not abandoning work forever, but just doing what i want; sometime's that means productive things i find interesting, other times that just means enjoying some down time or non-econ interests.
Heck, I love me a day of PC gaming. But some days I go ham on a project that I had been wanting to accomplish. Others times it is to go find deals to sell for profit.
Work just gets in the way of these things. So I made it my goal to be done with it earlier than most people. Good to have a similar-ish minded person here too. :D