You can plan, you can pre-visualize, you can summon all the good vibrations in your power. And still, family vacations can be a mess of whining and laughing, fighting and fun.

Maybe it's just that my expectations were too high. I had been, after all, falling asleep for the past couple of weeks, iPhone in hand, scrolling through Redfin listings of mountain cabins in Lake Arrowhead. Fantasizing about owning the perfect retreat to satisfy the wife's need for trees and mountain air. A plot of land for the kids to enjoy the outdoors away from the concrete and traffic. Assuming this weekend up to the mountains went well, maybe a little vacation home was in the cards.

So no pressure, right?