My brother and I gripped the sides of the inflatable raft and braced ourselves as the big ocean wave curled up over our boat. We felt like ants compared to the enormous waves. Wet, salty ants, but there was no fear, only eruptions of laughter and joy in the aftermath of the surge. Why? Because my dad was swimming alongside the boat and holding it upright as each wave crashed over us.

Every vacation I took as a child, I felt completely free to soak in every ounce of fun because my parents really prepared for our trips well. Growing up in a home with two working parents, it was a gift to retreat to the beach or the mountains each summer and spend two uninterrupted weeks with my two greatest influencers.

As my husband and I start to plan our family vacations, we've talked back and forth about the kind of preparations we'd like to make before our trips.