St. Louis Zoo

The St. Louis Zoo is always a favorite and Savannah seems to love animals. In particular, she loves the animals from Madagascar. So we were sure to find the giraffes, lions and zebras. She also seemed to like the penguins, the goats in the petting zoo and elephants but by the time we got to the lions was sound asleep. She also really likes trains, or choo-choos as she calls them, so we took the ride around the zoo on the train, which of course she slept through as well. We attempted to escape some of the Dubai heat by coming to St. Louis, but since we arrived it has been unseasonably hot and humid! Today was finally a nice day to be outside.

Shopping in the US!

There is a  common quote that is used in Dubai... "Anything is possible in Dubai". Anything you could ever want or dream of wanting is available....at a price.

Shopping tends to be expensive in Dubai. Groceries are all imported in from all over the world so it adds up quick. Produce and meat in particular but also dry goods. (For example, I spent $14 on 4 lbs. of seedless grapes today and one- 8 oz bag of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish is $6.) It is also a very European way of shopping, so everything is smaller is size. There is no bulk-shopping at Costco or Sams. Even the grocery carts seem smaller. Many people shop multiple times throughout the week, instead of doing one big shopping. I think the idea is that they are buying fresher food but when it is all imported thousands of miles I think it is the same stuff on Sunday as it is on Wednesday! Things also tend to run out and when they are gone, they might be gone for awhile...for example we have been without Goldfish for a few weeks now and Savannah decided she likes "yellow" string cheese better than "white" string cheese which they have also been out of for a few weeks now.

I have been shopping several times since we have been in St. Louis and Florida and get sucked in every time. It makes me realize how much cheaper some things are and the convenience of being able to run up to the grocery store or Target and not have to go to the mall is so speedy! I do find that I have a hard time buying in bulk now though. It all seems like so much. (The last pack of toilet paper I bought in Dubai had four rolls in the pack...unlike the lifetime supply at Costco.) I also now have a new found interest in Target. We have a French version but it isn't the same. It is fine for some dry goods and the occasional produce but it doesn't carry the same home decor items or kids items. Also, in Dubai you have to go to a separate store for everything...there is very little one stop shopping.

We even made a list before I left of things to pick up while I was in the States because they will be significantly cheaper. For example, Chris needs new running shoes, I need a new pair of jeans, Savannah needs new shoes, etc... I am sure I will find a few other things not on the list a home in the suitcase!

St. Louis Bound...again

This afternoon Savannah and I headed back to St. Louis. It is always difficult to leave Florida but this trip was especially hard. I have grown up going to Florida on a regular basis to visit my grandparents, it almost has a homey feeling. It will be different to go back to visit my aunt and uncle and not have my Nana or Gramps there. Savannah was lucky enough to meet her "Great Nana" (or as she referred to herself..."THE Great Nana") several times and I will continue to pass on her spirit, kindness and love. Savannah's middle name started 4 generations ago with my Nana and I will be sure to make sure that Savannah grows up knowing how much her Great Nana loved all three of us.

Today, we got to fly with my mom! She may not have been as excited as we were but I was grateful to have extra help and hands and Savannah took right to telling her where she should sit and disliked that our flight from Atlanta to St. Louis involved her sitting in the row behind us! Given that we again boarded a plane, only to be delayed and de-boarded, to re-boarded and close to running again Savannah did great. She even got ice cream from the flight attendant.

A huge thank-you to my Aunt Lynn and Uncle Jim! They yet again opened their hearts and home to all. I always have a wonderful time visiting them and this trip was no exception. Savannah and I can't wait to come back!

Saying Good-bye

Today was Nana's Memorial Service. Everything was done beautifully and I think Nana would have been happy. It was sweet to talk to her friends and hear how much she talked about her kids, grandkids and great-grandkids to them. It was also sweet to know that she touched so many people's lives with her kindness and love. She will definitely be missed by not only her family but her friends as well.

My Nana will always hold a special place in my heart. I already miss our phone calls every few days and feel like I have so much to tell her. Her notes of love and encouragement were priceless and her example of truly loving the man she married is a lesson to all. She may have been stubborn but if I can be half of the woman she was I will feel like I have succeeded.

Family Bonding

The main objective of today was to spend time with family. My cousins are also all in town. We are a small family that is scattered all over the place so it is always great to spend a little time together. Even though we are all here for a sad event, my Nana would have been so glad that everyone was together. Unfortunatly, when there are lots of miles between us there are usually family members missing from gatherings. Chris is obviously still in Dubai and my cousin's wife and kids are back home in Texas.

While we are staying at a near by hotel with my mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law, we spend most of our time at my Aunt and Uncle's. I think Savannah spent more time in the pool than she did out of the pool and has now taken turns swimming with any and everyone My cousin's kids, Christopher and Nicole love to swim so she had good company.

Florida Bound

Early this morning Savannah and I headed back to the airport, bound for Ormond Beach. It will be great to see my side of the family again but for devastating reasons. My Nana was an amazing woman and will be greatly missed.

Of course, I couldn't get Savannah and I on the same flight as my dad and sister so we took the first flight out, arriving in Daytona Beach a few hours before them. My brother-in-law has been working in Cleveland and was also on the early flight in. We actually were on the same flight from Atlanta to Daytona Beach. Since Savannah and I again had to run to our connection I was relived to find out that he was sitting directly behind us...he may not have been as excited since Savannah was already crying before take-off!

We arrived at my Aunt and Uncle's late morning with of course no luggage! Oddly  our luggage was on my dad and sister's flight...the one that we couldn't get on! Of course, I didn't think to pack Savannah's swim suit in my carry on bags and in classic style, our bags didn't arrive until 8:00 pm! My aunt and uncle have a beautiful pool right outside their back door. After stalling most of the day and trying to occupy Savannah with other activities, we finally gave in and let her go swimming with dad, in her dress! It didn't seem to bother her at all and was great exercise for strengthing her leg!

Swimming at Last

Today we spent the day visiting with family and of course had to go visit Savannah's Great Grammie and Great Pa so she could go swimming. I am not sure who was more excited...Savannah or Great Grammie. Savannah didn't venture to far from the steps and her leg seems pretty weak but she enjoyed the afternoon in the pool and of course playing with the hose!

Unfortunately, my Nana passed away on Sunday. My mom has been in Florida since she suffered a stroke a few days before. Savannah and I will join her and the rest of our family there tomorrow. It is definitely a hard  trip, I will always be thankful that we came home in April to celebrate her 90th birthday!

Goodbye Cast...Hello Boot

Today Savannah and I went with my dad to see a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. When we last saw the doctor in Dubai, Savannah leg needed a few more weeks of healing so he recommended that we see a doctor in St. Louis to have her leg x-rayed again and the cast removed. Savannah has been a trooper and put up with close to 7 weeks in a long leg cast, unfortunately, when the doctor looked at the x-ray he didn't feel it had healed enough to completely send her home cast free. He was also concerned about the other bones in her foot showing signs of weakness, do to the fact that she has been non-weight bearing for close to two months. The doctor decided to put her in a "walking boot". I know from past experience how heavy, awkward and uncomfortable these are but on the bright side, it comes off for a bath and swimming in the pool! He also said it would take her a little time but eventually she will be able to walk with the boot on. We will follow up with the doctor again in a few weeks before heading back to Dubai.

Leg Two and Three...Almost Home

After six long hours...the flight from London to Chicago was uneventful. Savannah napped a little and was awake a lot but relatively well behaved. Let's face it when your first flight departs at 1:00 am and you have a total of three flights and close to 24 hours of travel, everyone wants to cry at some point...especially when you are two!

We have never taken the London connection before. My vote for future flights is "not again", unless we are going to do a stop over in London. It just makes the trip too long. I felt like I had been traveling for 5 days.

We had a two hour layover in Chicago...before the home stretch...45 minutes at the most from Chicago to St. Louis. Unfortunately,Chicago was a disaster. Between the longest line I have ever seen at passport control/customs and the rudeness of some follow travelers/TSA/airport employees we ended up sprinting to our final connection. I even pulled out the "I am traveling internationally by myself with a toddler who is in a cast, going to miss the last leg of my travel, almost in tears, what can you do" card with no success. If the kind Middle Eastern couple behind me had anything to do with it I would have been pushed to the front of the line but there were hundreds of people in front of us, also missing their flights that would have strongly disagreed! As we finally starting making our way to the semi-front of the line, a Chicago Police Officer opened up the "military only" line for a family also traveling with young kids. I made my uninvited move and followed them to the line...this was the only way I would have a chance to get through customs, reclaim our checked bags, recheck the bags and try to make it to the gate (which is always at the other end of the terminal in these situations). By a small miracle, Savannah and I made it to the jet way as they closed the door behind us. Long gone were the kind and sympathetic travelers...instead we were greeted with lots of businessmen stares and glares. Of course, Savannah chose the 45 minute flight to fall asleep as we were running to the gate (how this was possible I don't know). She slept the entire way to St. Louis were we were greeted by Chris' mom!

Since moving it has become very welcoming to see the sign in your first US connection that says "Welcome to the United States" or when the pilots says "Welcome Home".

London's Heathrow Airport

Our first flight was a success! Savannah slept most of the time and I even convinced her to lay down in her seat so she seemed to sleep pretty good. I think the biggest challenge when flying with her by myself is all the stuff and bathroom breaks! With her still in the full cast, she isn't much help and has to be carried everywhere , then add the carry on bags full of toys, food and stuffed animals and babies, plus the stroller I have my hands full. A huge thank you to the US contractors who were aboard our flight. They were amazingly kind, insisting on carrying bags, collapsing the stroller, offering to sit with Savannah while I ate or went to the bathroom, attempting to cheer her when she was upset. After talking to several of them, most of them were on their way home from Afghanistan  to see their own kids or grand kids. Several of the were retired Marines that I would guess are still in better shape then most! It was a good reminder of how lucky we are to be American and proud of our country and the men and women who choose to serve. Their kindness continued off the plane, when I was in the wrong terminal and had to board a bus and ride for 20 minutes to another terminal. There are commonly US contractors on the US flights in and out of Dubai. I will say that it is very comforting to know they are there.

I was a little nervous about the potential craziness at the London Airport. The Olympics are days away and I fully anticipated lines and chaos. Much to my surprise they were incredibly prepared and organized. They were extra kind to Savannah and her cast allowing us to move ahead in lines and took extra care with her through security.

Six hours is a long lay over for anyone let alone an almost two year old. The best $50 I spent was to pre-pay for access to the American/British Airways Club lounge. We could spread out, sit down, eat, use the wi-fi and best of all leave our stuff there when we wanted to go for a walk in the terminal. It was much better than camping out at a gate. Savannah was even able to take a short nap while we were there. I would have loved to "see" London and had originally thought that maybe we would leave the airport and go see a sight or two during our layover, but our flight arrived very early in the morning and by the time anything would have opened it wouldn't have allowed us much time....maybe on our next trip!

All in all--leg one was a success!

St. Louis Bound

Tonight Savannah I attempt our first completely solo trip to the US. While Dubai is great, it will be nice to get  away to cooler temperatures and spend some more time with our families, unfortunately Chris is staying in Dubai to work and probably make a business trip to Saudi Arabia. We will be state-side for almost 4 weeks, hopefully we don't overstay our welcome! We are also attempting our first European layover with Savannah. Our adventure will be close to 25 hours and routes us from Dubai to London, London to Chicago and Chicago to St. Louis...with six hours to kill in London's Heathrow Airport. As with most flights out of Dubai our plane isn't scheduled to leave until 1:00 am so that will do enough to create bedtime adventures to get us started! It is always hard to say good-bye to Chris, especially when it is for such a long time period and so many miles away but Savannah and I are ready to get our mother-daughter adventure underway!

Happy 10th Anniversary!

Today is Chris' and I's 10th Anniversary! It is hard to believe how much has changed over the last decade. We actually went on our first date in October of 1995...so we truly have turned into adults together. We had big plans of going on a vacation together this summer, leaving Savannah with our parents while her and I are in St. Louis but the logistics just didn't work out well. Being 7000 miles away from each other doesn't make for a lot of convenient "meet you there" spots. Instead we decided a "family" weekend away in Muscat, Oman...but plans changed again when we realized that Savannah would still be in her cast. The resort we booked is all about swimming and beach, so not much fun if Savannah can't do those things. Instead, we rescheduled our Oman trip for August and settled on a night out.

While Chris and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Pierchic at the Al Qasr Hotel, Savannah stayed at home with her first "non-family" babysitter! One of my good friend's has a live in Nanny, but our friends are already in the US for the summer so we were able to have Shama come and stay with Savannah for a few hours. They both did great!  Pierchic is situated on the end of a private pier and overlooks the Arabian Sea as well as the Burj Al Arab. After dinner, Chris and I headed over to the Madinat Hotel to the wine bar. It fun to go to two places that are not "kid-friendly"!

Here is to the continuation of our Dubai adventure and to a lifetime more of anniversaries!

Happy 4th of July

Last night Savannah and I celebrated the 4th of July with a room full of other Americans. The American Business Council of Dubai sponsors a celebration every year at the Meydan Hotel. The celebration started with the singing of the UAE and USA's National Anthem and continued with hot dogs (a rare thing in Dubai), hamburgers, french fries, watermelon of course $10 beer. For the kids, there was a bounce house (except for Savannah and her cast), coloring, face painting and t-shirt decorating. There were a couple of tables filled with military men and women from the USS Enterprise, which was a great site to see and reminded me that I would love to get involved with volunteering for the USO. The night ended with amazing fireworks set off over the hotel's racetrack. (The Meydan racetrack is home to the world's richest horse race, the Dubai World Cup.) Savannah's reaction to the fireworks was priceless. She wasn't scared and added lots of commentary of "whoa" and "wow". She had great facial expressions, especially when the fireworks appeared to be curving close to the audience. Unfortunately, the 4th of July is a normal Wednesday for the non-American world in Dubai so Chris had to work and had a late dinner meeting so Savannah and I went with friends from our playgroup. As Savannah gets older we think it is important to still establish traditions and normalcy around our holidays, especially while living abroad.

UAE Olympians

As the Summer Olympics begin in just a few short days I was curious about the UAE's participation. This summer an expected contingent of 32 athletes from the United Arab Emirates will compete in the London games.

The UAE Football (or soccer) team makes up the majority of the UAE contingent and won a place at the Olympics for the first time. They will face Great Britain, Senegal and Uruguay.

As a reminder of the region we live in...weightlifter Khadija Mohammad will be only the second woman ever to be chosen to the UAE Olympic team. The only other woman to compete for the UAE since it began participating in the Olympics in 1984 was Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in the Beijing Summer Olympics. The daughter of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, competed in taekwondo.

Only Brunei, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have yet to have female athletes participate in an Olympic Games, although Brunei and Qatar are expected to send women to take part in London.

This year, two of the three shooting team members also belong to Dubai's ruling family. Shooting is the only event the UAE has ever won an Olympic medal in, with another member of Dubai's ruling family, Sheikh Ahmad bin Mohammad bin Hasher Al Maktoum, claiming gold in the double trap in Athens in 2004.

In comparison the US has competed in every Olympics with the exception of the 1980 Moscow Games and won 110 medals in last summer's Beijing Olympics alone. This summer nearly 600 athletes will represent the red, white and blue and are expected to be atop the medal standings.

Gas Prices

One of the most common questions we get when we return home or people find out we live in Dubai is "What is the price of gas?". We honestly don't pay that much attention...for starters everything is in liters not gallons. Plus, there are no signs at the gas stations with the posted prices. Gas cost the same regardless of what station you go to. We also don't pump our own gas. There isn't even the option for self-service. There are attendants waiting for you as you pull into the pump. Gas stations are also only "cash only", which I find slightly annoying. I recently read an article in one of the local newspapers regarding gas prices in Dubai but also the rest of the Middle East. I found it quite interesting and thought it would help answer the question, "How much do you pay for gas?"

According to the paper, the United Arab Emirates has some of the highest gas prices in the Arab world. The gas in the UAE is also heavily subsidized by the government. At the start of 2011, the UAE had the fourth largest refining capacity in the Arab World after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq but most of the production takes place in Abu Dhabi with plans to set up new refining units in other Emirates. The country's gasoline production is also the sixth largest in the region after Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Egypt and Algeria. Surprisingly, Dubai still imports some of its gasoline for domestic use, paying market price per barrel but because of the government subsidized prices we never see those costs or a fluctuation in price.

Some members of The Federal National Council, (the UAE's appointment parliament) has actually called for a "cutting of gasoline prices to bring them in line with other Middle Eastern countries.

According to the local newspaper (Emirates 24/7, February 2012) here are the gas prices (I have converted them to gallons and US dollars).

UAE-$1.50/gallon
Saudi Arabia- $0.41/gallon
Kuwait-$0.37/gallon
Qatar-$0.68/gallon

We recently decided to take advantage of the extremely low gas prices and our last opportunity for a discount on GM vehicles and traded in our Chevy Malibu for a Chevy Tahoe. We figured this is the one time in our life we could buy this big of a truck and not have to worry about spending $100+ to fill it up. We can actually fill it up for about 150 dirhams, which is equivalent to about $40!