Two Years Later.....

Well, it appears that the last two years have really flown by. We are now living in California and Conleys Finnish Adventures don't seem like a very appropriate title anymore.

Please check us out at http://keepingupwiththeconleys.blogspot.com/ to hear all about our Californian adventures.

Thanks for reading.
xo
Kim

Andrew, Maddy and Charlie's Month in Canada

The kids were off school for 6 or 7 weeks this summer and after analyzing the logistics, prices, flight availability, schedules, etc. It was determined that the kids would fly to Canada for three weeks in July with Andrew and I would stay in Finland for work. Although I spent a bunch of it in Minneapolis for work, I spent a large portion of that time cleaning the house, organizing toys, selling off our junk, eating lonely pizza dinners and missing my babies like crazy! Never again!!!!! Way too long from the kids.

On the other hand, they had a spectacular time in Canada!!!!!!!!!!!! They got to spend so much time with family and also explored some new things. They were also there over Canada Day, and got to explore Wellington for the parade and festivities. Here is a brief summary of the things they explored in Canada.

The kittens at Oma and Opa's house were a big hit with Charlie!

Charlie and Maddy got to meet their new cousin Felix for the first time. And yes, I'm crazy jealous that I didn't get to chill with him yet.

The whole reason we go home - hanging out with the family! The pool at my parents house is kept around 30 degrees and attracts everybody on a frequent basis!

A very rare moment when all 10 Myderwyk grandbabies are together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the first time they've all been together where none of them are crying :D

Wearing orange to watch the football match, cheering for the Netherlands!

Andrew's family (parents and siblings with their families) went camping together at a provincial park for several days. It sounded very nice and also had a really great beach that they enjoyed together. I love this photo of Tanya (Andrew's sister) hanging out with Charlie on the beach.

Andrew took the kids to Tanya's house for a couple of days and they really enjoyed the Gator and four wheeler! They also have chickens, which Charlie really liked as well. They went to Clovermead together and also the petting zoo.

This is the lighthouse where Andrew first proposed to me. How cool that he took the kids here? See, there's a romantic bone in there somewhere ;)

They also visited our friend Alex and his girlfriend Cheryl, and did some discovering.

Andrew's cousin Jason is a volunteer firefighter, and seemed happy to show the kids the trucks and equipment.

Spending time with Kyra, her oldest cousin.

Uncle Nic took her fishing and she was the only one to catch a fish. Apparently the Tinkerbell fishing pole was the trick.

This is what it's all about. Time with the cousins.

Oh, and quality time with the cows.

Putting on a show with her cousins.

Soaking up some Canadian sunrays at the Sandbanks Provincial Park.

Time with the Conley cousins.

 

 

Stockholm

In June, the whole Conley clan packed our pom poms and headed by ferry to Stockholm to cheer Andrew for the Stockholm marathon! It was my first long weekend since I started my job and it was just a really nice time to spend with the family.

Andrew did a fantastic job running and it was a lot of fun with the kids going from one part of the course to another to cheer him on. I believe we got to see him 4 or 5 times and then went to the Olympic Stadium to watch him cross the finish line!!!

Other than the race, we also toured around Skansen, which is an open air museum on the island of Djurgarden filled with different animals and also some rides. The highlight for me was probably seeing a lemur sleep pile, similar to that on the movie The Croods.

We spent a day touring around the city center, including the Stockholm Public Library, the Royal Palace and awesome streets in Gamla Stan. We also visited the Woodland Cemetery, which was very beautiful. A very nice long weekend together in Stockholm and a very proud finish for Andrew's 4th marathon!!!

A Really Cute Scarecrow!

June also marks a fun time for parents as we watch the kids' spring concerts. Charlie's school had their concert on Seurasaari Island, which is an open-air museum on an island. The theme for the concert was a farm, and Charlie played a quite adorable scarecrow! We were very pleased with his performance, and he seemed to be enjoying himself!

Charlie's teachers have been very patient and supportive of him, and we are pretty happy where he is. To his right is Genevieve, this is his best friend in his class.

Maddy Graduates from Preschool!

The end of May marked another graduation for the Conley family - Maddy graduated from preschool and was excited to move to greener pastures.

After a nice concert put on by the children, the teachers had a nice ceremony for the graduating kids. In Finland, it is customary for children to wear these white and black hats on graduation. For high school graduation, I believe, Finnish kids are given real hats (ie not made out of paper) which are kept for all eternity and brought out every year during Vappu drinking festivities.

A really nice way to celebrate Maddy's completion. Here are a few photos of my crazy girl!

 

Several months later, one of my classmates saw this collage of wacky photos and decided to recreate his own version. Enjoy!

 

 

 Very proud of my girl for the inquisitive, curious, independent soul that she is. A fantastic and caring older sister, and a really good kid.

Graduation

Well, the big day arrived!!! It was awesome that Mom flew from Canada to spend the week with us and watch my graduation ceremony. I really enjoyed all of the emails, posts, comments, and praises from all my family and friends who could not attend that day. It was truly a remarkable finish to a long journey.

Graduating with Honors Distinction was the icing on the cake.

After the ceremony, my classmates all hopped on a bus and we celebrated a fabulous evening at Mustion Linna castle with appetizers, drinks, great dinner, reception, speeches, dancing, and a performance from our very own MBA band! A fantastic night to end a fantastic journey.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work We Go!

Well, it's been almost four months since I started working at DealDash, and I must admit that it's gone by really fast. I'm amazed at how much I've learned, adjusted, and managed to contribute in such a short amount of time.

While I choose not to bore you with all the details about what my day entails, I have to mention what a breath of life it has given me. Another purpose in my life other than wife and mom.

My colleagues, although most younger than me, are a really great group of young, ambitious and talented people who are as motivated as I am to build something amazing with this company. My boss William, the CEO, continues to amaze me with his knowledge, determination and drive. And the other managers are really great team members who challenge, encourage and support me in fighting the fight.

One of the most glaring differences between Canadian and Finnish working life is the stress of the trial period. In Canada, people usually get some sort of probation period, but from a legal or financial standpoint, it doesn't hold a lot of meaning or accountability to it. In Finland, there are laws discussing the mandatory four month trial period for all Finnish employees. If you've worked at a company for less than four months, the company can get rid of you without any severance or notice. After you've "passed" the four month trial period, the laws change and it becomes more difficult to fire someone.

I can't speak about other Finnish companies, but at least at DealDash the four month trial period is taken very seriously. As a 5 year old company who brings in the same revenue with 35 employees as our top competitor with 200 employees, we aim to hire outstanding and extremely motivated team members, not just adequate colleagues.

I guess we'll see how I'm doing in two weeks, when the verdict is in :)