Emirates Palace-Abu Dhabi

Today we took a rode trip to Abu Dhabi. The capital city is a little over an hour from Dubai. Our first stop was Emirates Palace. The Palace is a luxury five-star hotel. To enter the hotel you have to have reservations in one of the restaurants or for a room. On the drive over we made reservations at the coffee shop for lunch. The hotel is beautiful and covered in gold, crystal and marble. The topmost floor of the hotel has six Rulers' Suites which are reserved solely for Emirati royalty and dignitaries. Not to be outdone by the extravagance of Dubai, in 2010 they hosted the world's most expensive Christmas tree, valued at over 11 million dollars. Instead of ornaments it was decorated in fine jewelry! The palace grand suite in over 7,000 square feet in size and cost a mere $11,500 per night!

Our lunch was delicious. Chris and I enjoyed sandwiches, while mom feasted on scones and a cappuccino dusted with 24K gold dust! My picky eater ate some things that I brought along and all of the fruit that came with my mom's scones.

While we were walking through the hotel two Arabic men, most likely local, stopped to talk with Savannah and asked to take a picture with her. Even though it happens often, it is still amazing to see such fascination over a Caucasian baby girl.

Savannah is 17 Months

Savannah is 17 months old!

It seems like Savannah is adding to her vocabulary everyday! She consistently uses words like: mama, dada, nana, dog, cat, hot, ba (ball), ba (balloon), bear, water, up, out, off, no (actually no, no, no), yes, duck. She attempts to say much more but just can't quite form the words. She is quite the "copy-cater" though, so we have to be careful what we say. She understands things that she can't say. Yesterday I was talking about swimming in the pool to Chris, so she went and got her swimming suit and then had a melt down because we couldn't go to the pool. I also asked my mom if she would give her a bath and she went straight to the bathroom and attempted to take off her clothes. She definitely makes us laugh everyday!

Savannah also is making up her own baby sign language to go with the "more" and "all done" that we taught her. To say "please" she taps her chest. I don't know why or where she got this from but she does it everytime you ask her to say "please". At least she is getting it because she has started to do it without prompting...now to work on the word "please". I have a hard time carrying her, with my shoulder, so I started having her take my hand and show me...she now does this with everything. If she wants something or wants you to do something and you don't understand her pointing she will take your hand and show you. She is also good at answering questions. If you ask her if she wants cheese she will shake her head yes or no.

She loves the ipad and is heaven because my mom also has one. You have to be very sneaky to use it in her presence without her climbing into your lap. She knows which apps are hers and how to use them. She also loves books...especially ones that have pop-ups or tabs to open.

She is still a picky eater and not a great sleeper but the days are so much fun!

Meet and Greet the Horses

Today mom, Savannah and I went back to the Dubai Polo Club for a stable tour. We were actually the only ones there so we got a private tour of the grounds and stables. It was incredible to get so close to the horses. Savannah had lots of opportunities to pet many of them. One even nuzzled her belly, which she immediately reacted to with an "arghh". Some of the horses are owned by the Polo Club and used for lessons and desert hacking rides but most of the horses within the stable are privately owned. Many of them for polo (so the owners own many horses), while others are used for shows and jumping. The trainers who gave us our tour said there are a few horses stabled there, that are "pets" and belong to little girls (Dad says this is not in Savannah's future). The horses seem very well cared for. The stables are all designed with major air-conditioning units to keep the horses cool in the summer heat. Breakfast at the club

was included

with our tour and

was delicious!

Build-A-Bear

Today Nana took Savannah for her first trip to Build-a-Bear. She and my mom picked out the bear, put in his stuffing, gave him an air bath and picked out a "I Love Dubai" t-shirt. (We already have a Cardinal's outfit for the bear!) Savannah seemed to have fun and she loved looking at all of the bear clothes.

Her bear doesn't have an official name but if you ask her to go get her bear she goes to find him and she attempts to say "bear". She also gives it "bear hugs" and kisses (or bites) on the nose! She also discovered that the bear also fits in her doll stroller so she is happy!

Dubai Polo Club

This afternoon we went to the Dubai Polo Club to watch a proper Polo match. It is a difficult game to watch but you can get so close to the horses. Each rider has at least 3 or 4 horses. So while they are playing, the groomsmen are caring for the next horse. The horses are literally standing right next to the spectators, waiting their turn to play. It was great for Savannah. The groomsmen let her pet a couple of the horses. Although, she seemed just as intrigued by the grass. (I guess we take for granted--and forget that she isn't that used to playing in the grass because there is sand everywhere.)

Magic Planet

Tonight, we went to Magic Planet at the Mall of the Emirates. Magic Planet is similar to a Dave and Busters, but for kids. they have games, rides and arcades. Some of the games spit out tickets for prizes but they also have rides geared toward younger children.

Savannah had a great time riding some of the rides and the rest of us had fun picking out games for her (or us!) to play.