I was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer when my kids were 5yo. I spent the better part of a year undergoing surgery, chemo and radiation. I worried a lot about whether I was going to get to see my kids grow up. Some of the people I met on my cancer journey died, leaving their kids behind. I always felt very fortunate to have been given the gift of time with mine that some didn't get. It changed my view of what was really important to me when it came to my kids. I wasn't going to spend it arguing with them or cultivating poor relationships.
We had fun, and some really, really great times, many of which were on vacations. I wasn't missing even a minute of any of them. Of course we disciplined our kids, as well, but we spent a lot of time talking to them about why certain things were important to us in life, and I'm not just talking about vacations. There were reasons why a clean house was important to me, or why we wanted them to do well in school, follow rules, be kind ot others, etc.
My DH happens to have a way of making things kind of fun even when disciplining, too, so it was rare to have to have anything more than a serious sit down to "discuss" things. I would never have allowed either of us to fly off the handle and cancel a vacation, even a local one. As I said, those times were very cherished. And things like that were done to me when I was growing up and it sucked; I can still cry just thinking about some of those moments. Not what I wanted for the family I created.
I mentioned it in my first post, but another thing I think about is what if something happened to someone in the family weeks or months from now? Would missing out on that beautiful time away together be worth some toys or papers not being picked up, or not doing it fast enough? Not in my book. Especially under the circumstances described in the OP after being away for a month, etc. People always say hug your kids when something happens to theirs, but I was given the gift of learning that lesson early when my kids were young by living with the threat of losing my life myself. Life is short and nothing is more precious than time with our loved ones, especially our kids.