Summer Catch-Up: Travel, Family Chaos & Finding Your Way Back To Routine

<p>Summer is (almost) over, and we're back in Frankfurt! ☀️🍂</p><p>In this lighthearted summer catch-up episode of Expecting Expats, Amanda and CJ sit down to share what their summers actually looked like—from family trips and international travel to summer camps, weddings, World Cup fever, and the very real exhaustion that comes with travelling with kids.</p><p>CJ spent much of the summer at her family's holiday house in Sweden before heading to Denmark, while Amanda packed in trips to Valencia, Amsterdam and Utrecht, plus a children's sailing course back in Germany. Needless to say, neither summer was exactly restful!</p><p>We chat about the joys (and challenges!) of travelling with children, including putting kids into a Spanish summer camp for the first time, navigating cultural differences around mealtimes and bedtime, and discovering that sometimes… home really is where the pretzels are. 🥨</p><p>We also talk about the reality of having young children at home during the long summer break—with no school or daycare—and why getting back to a regular routine can feel like such a relief for parents.</p><p>But summer wasn't all chaos. We reflect on our summer bucket lists, the spontaneous moments that ended up being some of our favourites, and the things we want to carry with us into autumn. For CJ, that's the cosy feeling of Swedish summers and spending time in nature. For Amanda, it's making more room for fun and spontaneity while letting go of some of that summer FOMO.</p><p>And because autumn feels a little bit like a new year when you're a parent, we also look ahead to what's coming next—including CJ's exciting new chapter as a certified couples counsellor.</p><p>In this episode, we talk about:</p><ul><li>What a summer of expat family life really looks like</li><li>Travelling around Europe with young children</li><li>Spending the summer in Sweden, Denmark, Spain and the Netherlands</li><li>Putting children into a Spanish summer camp for the first time</li><li>The challenges (and unexpected joys) of navigating different cultures</li><li>Why Spanish family events happening at 10pm can be a shock to the system!</li><li>The never-ending work of feeding and entertaining children during school holidays</li><li>The relief of getting back to school, daycare and regular routines</li><li>Our summer bucket lists—and whether we actually completed them</li><li>Summer nights, World Cup fever and spontaneous adventures</li><li>The funny ways our children develop a