Ramadan Kareem, family and friends!
While July must have been a relaxing, patriotic month back home with Independence day holidays and beautiful weather, we enjoyed much celebration of our own with Naaya's 1st birthday and our 5 year anniversary! July is our favorite month of the year given the two most special events of our lives to date occurred this month!
We started the month with the first birthday celebration for Naaya - her Nani (Mana's Mom) came to visit us in Dubai full of treats in hand for all of us (especially Naaya)! We had a blast with her over 3 days! We went swimming early in the morning with Naaya, then took her to the Dubai Mall to see the fountains, Burj Khalifa, Aquarium, etc.
We had lunch at Fuego, Mana's favorite Mexican restaurant in Dubai (where Nani enjoyed a Margarita for the first time in a long time), saw "Now You See Me" in the theater, went to the beach in front of Burj Al Arab another morning, had dinner at Villa Beach, and had her teach Myla some goooood home cookin'! We had some seriously quality time full of laughter, love, and celebration for Naaya's 1st bday. Nani even drank her first shot this trip in her celebratory spirit with Mana! We had never seen her laugh and be as gleeful as she was as the waves crashed onto her in the ocean - the joy on her face in that moment will be etched in our hearts forever! While we missed Nana a lot, we look forward to enjoying and celebrating with him in person in a few months on our next trip to India.
After Nani left, we quickly got ready for our exciting 10 day trip to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm! We collected tips from our Russian friend, Dina (married to Sahil's high school friend, Adit), Pranati Mami (Mana's Aunt in India), Shreya (Mana's friend from LSE), and Mike and Kelsey (Mana's friends from Kellogg) in preparation for a great trip! We had a flawless flight with Naaya to Moscow - no tears, no fuss, she was a total trooper! After being amazed initially, we realized Naaya will have completed 16 flights by her 1st bday! She is a seasoned traveler! We suspect that when she returns home, she will have it backwards and consider the car a special treat and the plane the more routine mode of transportation!
We got to Moscow and went straight to our hotel at the Ritz in Moscow. Sahil's consulting perks have benefited us in many ways, but the fancy hotels may be one of the great highlights - hooray for hotel points! We started day 1 by having the most amazing lunch at Cafe Pushkin for traditional Russian food the way old Russian aristocrats ate and lived. We ate up our Russian dumplings and pancakes in delight and then headed to the Red Square across the street from our hotel. We saw the Kremlin and visited the armory to get a taste of Russian culture, explored the largest department store in the world, GUM, and oogled over our favorite structure, St. Basil's Cathedral before visiting the surrounding beautiful fountains. That night we decided to have a chill dinner at the rooftop bar of our hotel, O2 Lounge, only to realize that we had arrived in one of the most talked about hot spots of Moscow! With its gorgeous views of the entire city to enjoy the beautiful city, this was Sahil's favorite spot in Moscow.
Our Day 2 in Moscow started with great news as one of Mana's best friends from college, Tina, had her baby boy Ajay! After celebrating in spirit with the Dave family, we began our next round of explorations from the famous Moscow metro stations which were gorgeous and worth checking out, followed by an afternoon in Gorky Park, where we had our other infamous Russian meal at a small cafe. We came across the most amazing Russian dish - Cherry Vareniki! It tasted like melt-in-your-mouth warm cherry pie. If you go to Russia, you MUST try it! After walking around the park with Naaya, we headed back to the hotel, packed our bags, and headed to the train station for the Sapsan Express to St. Petersburg!
We thoroughly enjoyed our train ride overlooking Russia's countryside and after 4.5 hours, we made it to
our next destination. When we got to St. Petersburg, we were picked up by the driver from the hotel and made our way to the W hotel in the center of the city across from the Hermitage. While it was amazing that daylight lasted until 11:30pm, we had a hard time convincing Naaya that it was sleepytime regardless of how bright it was! The next day we started early, first by going to the Hermitage and seeing one of the most beautiful palaces that provided a perfect depiction of Catherine the Great's time. From the gorgeous art to the beautiful architecture, it was well worth our time sightseeing thoroughly (though Naaya passed out through the entire experience!). After visiting the Hermitage, we took a boat to Peterhof Palace, which is known as Peter the Great's "Russian Versaille". When we arrived, we were indeed impressed with the
beauty and grandiose grounds on which the palace sat. However, after going through the palace, we decided that the Hermitage was much more impressive on the inside. We had our share of fun Naaya memories here between Sahil having to carry the stroller up flights and flights of stairs, changing Naaya's diaper smack in the middle of the garden, etc, but we managed with success! Most importantly, Naaya continued to have a blast with us and roll with the punches without a fuss, so we were in good shape!
The next day we explored the city by foot, taking a boat tour around St. Petersburg, stopping for draft beers at the cafes on Nevsky Prospekt (which we enjoyed even more thoroughly given Ramadan spirit - meaning no alcohol or food during daytime- back home in Dubai), went to the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, a gorgeous cathedral made up of colorful domes and glass tiles throughout, and went to a local market where Sahil found Russian dolls with Redskins and Michigan on them for himself. He was thrilled with this find! As we continued to explore, we found a quaint cafe right at which Naaya decided it was time to shake things up and break one of Mana's lenses. Note the photo captured here. :)
All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in St. Petersburg before we headed to Helsinki for the third leg of our trip. While we arrived in full and happy spirits, we had a slight hiccup when FinnAir left our luggage in Russia because the plane was too small to carry it! Though it was a bit challenging given we were only in Helsinki for a full day, we managed and had a blast! We arrived at the Radisson Blu, got settled in, and began to explore the city.
We decided to jump on the hop-on-hop-off tour in Finland and took in the cute, quaint city. Our two favorite experiences in Helsinki was 1) our dinner the first night at Aino, a fantastic Finnish restaurant downtown on the historic Esplanade, and 2) the Rock Church. Aino was a great find with fantastic service from Mila who gave great recs on food and beer pairings. After Mila's raving review, Naaya and Mana were even adventurous enough to try the Finnish delicacy - Reindeer! Though Mana was a bit more nervous than Naaya (who is game to eat pretty much anything we'll let her), Sahil encouraged them to go for it and ultimately, they were glad they tried it! The Rock Church was a really cool site exactly as it sounds - a church carved from a rock, with a gorgeous copper dome to be perfectly acoustic. When we arrived, the pianist was playing in the church, and the sound was incredible. Mana equates it to the acoustics at Red Rocks, in Denver, Colorado - her favorite musical venue to date.
Helsinki was great and Mana's second favorite leg of the trip. We got our bags in time and then headed to Stockholm for the last 3 days of our trip where we celebrated our 5 year anniversary! We arrived at the Sheraton in Stockholm, located perfectly on the water right off of Gamla Stan, the old town. We were lucky to get a view overlooking the city
with a separate room for Naaya to sleep soundly. It was perfect!
After our success with the Hop-on-
Hop-off in Helsinki, we decided to leverage that tour on day 1 so we could get a lay of the land in Stockholm. We explored via the bus tour and spend time in the key areas. We spent some key time in Gamla Stan, medieval Stockholm full of winding alleyways and charming small squares, and the Royal Palace. We also took Naaya to Skansen, in Djurgarden where she got to experience her second zoo experience ever (the first being in Minneapolis when she was about one month old)!. We saw all sorts of cool animals (peacocks, brown bears, wolves, reindeer, lions, and seals to name a few)!
On day 2, our 5 year anniversary (July 19th), we took a boat twenty minutes away from Stockholm out to one the islands of Sweden's archipelago known as Fjaderholmarna. We loved this experience because we were surrounded by locals who do this on the regular during the summertime (though it was very chilly per our summer standards for island relaxation). Nevertheless, it was amazingly charming and beautiful and a really fun outing!
That night we celebrated our anniversary and Naaya's 1 year birthday (1 week early) at a beautiful restaurant in Stockholm overlooking the city: Gondolen. It was breathtaking in every sense of the word. We drank a bottle of Louis Roederer Brut Premier and reminisced over our 5 years, with Naaya contributing over the last year of memories, of course. As the finale to our trip, there was no better way to conclude our whirlwind adventure!
We came back to Dubai after an amazing 10 days only to celebrate Naaya officially for her first birthday! The celebration started on July 24th, when Mana celebrated her one-year anniversary for the last date she and Naaya shared her tummy - they ate Haagen Dazs ice cream to ring in the 24th. Then, when Naaya went to sleep that night, Mana toasted with Sahil (over the phone, as he was en route from Saudi) for the one-year anniversary of their first labor experience in the hospital - oh what memorable 27 hours! Then finally, we celebrated Naaya's actual birthday on July 25th (her party will be in August post-Ramadan), with the arrival of her with her Dadi, Dada, and Chacha visiting us from the US! AND they thoughtfully came with LOTS of gifts for little Naaya!
Mana had taken Naaya's 1 year photo in advance to get it decorated on her red velvet cake for her to enjoy! With the Sanghvi family together in Dubai, most of the Bhatt family in India on Skype through the iphone, and Chacha taking photos of it all, we sang Happy Birthday to Naaya. It was very special and we enjoyed every second!
Over the next few days, Naaya enjoyed her gifts from Chacha, Dada, and Dadi. She especially enjoyed the toy car that plays really fun songs and helps her mobilize around the apartment and Elmo!
We all had the chance to show Dada, Dadi, and Chacha a closer look at our life here in Dubai through the course of the next week. Though it was Ramadan in Dubai (meaning no eating or drinking in public from sunrise to sunset), resulting in occasions where we were stranded without food while out, we still managed to have a great time enjoying each day together. We went to the Dubai Mall on Friday of the first weekend where Dadi got some stylin' sunglasses and Chacha got a baller wallet. After seeing the Aquarium, they then headed to the Burj Khalifa. Afterwards, we regrouped again at the Armani cafe, one of the few restaurants open midday, for a very yummy lunch! In the evening, we headed back only to get freshened up for a great dinner at Pai Thai in Al Qasr for the first of many great family dinners over the week.
On Saturday, Sahil, Mana and Naaya went to the doctor for Naaya's 1-year appt while Dada, Dadi, and Chacha went to the Atlantis to check it out. Naaya had her vaccinations and checked out well meeting her milestones of cruising, talking in her babble language, and freaking out as
expected with the doctors and nurses :). For the rest of the day, she stayed home to recover with Mana while Sahil showed the family around Dubai on a long road trip to both Mana and Sahil's work, Pankaj Mama's old home, and the grocery store at Mall of Emirates. After
a great day, we regrouped and planned the rest of Dada, Dadi, and Chacha's week full of fun activities to see Dubai. While Sahil headed to Saudi on Sunday for 4 days, Mana, Naaya, and Myla continued to get good time with Dada, Dadi, and Chacha when they weren't on a Desert Safari, in Abu Dhabi, or in Deira.
We kicked off the following weekend by having Iftaar at the Address Hotel in Dubai Marina. We enjoyed an elaborate meal that we equated to a wedding reception feel, with lots and lots of food. After dinner, Chacha, Sahil, and Mana went to smoke hookah and get some quality sibling time together. Many hours later, we came home only so Mana and Sahil could wake up 4 hours later with Naaya :). It was worth it, though! On the last day together, we went to lunch at Loca, Sahil's favorite Mexican restaurant and then after Dada, Dadi, and Chacha saw the fountain show, they joined us at home for falafals over dinner. All in all, we had a really great time together and made some great memories that we'll look back on fondly!
Wow...this may be the longest blog to date - I guess that is to be expected with all of the celebrations July brings our way! We'll update you on the work front in August, but as for a quick update on Naaya, she is close to getting teeth (fingers crossed), and crawls more than she walks these days because she has realized how much easier it is to mobilize. She definitely doesn't want to sit still a whole lot as there is SO much to explore! Luckily we are headed to the UK and Ireland tomorrow so she'll be able to explore 2 new countries this week! We'll tell you all about it in our August blog! Until then, we hope you enjoy the last month of summer!
While July must have been a relaxing, patriotic month back home with Independence day holidays and beautiful weather, we enjoyed much celebration of our own with Naaya's 1st birthday and our 5 year anniversary! July is our favorite month of the year given the two most special events of our lives to date occurred this month!
We started the month with the first birthday celebration for Naaya - her Nani (Mana's Mom) came to visit us in Dubai full of treats in hand for all of us (especially Naaya)! We had a blast with her over 3 days! We went swimming early in the morning with Naaya, then took her to the Dubai Mall to see the fountains, Burj Khalifa, Aquarium, etc.
We had lunch at Fuego, Mana's favorite Mexican restaurant in Dubai (where Nani enjoyed a Margarita for the first time in a long time), saw "Now You See Me" in the theater, went to the beach in front of Burj Al Arab another morning, had dinner at Villa Beach, and had her teach Myla some goooood home cookin'! We had some seriously quality time full of laughter, love, and celebration for Naaya's 1st bday. Nani even drank her first shot this trip in her celebratory spirit with Mana! We had never seen her laugh and be as gleeful as she was as the waves crashed onto her in the ocean - the joy on her face in that moment will be etched in our hearts forever! While we missed Nana a lot, we look forward to enjoying and celebrating with him in person in a few months on our next trip to India.
After Nani left, we quickly got ready for our exciting 10 day trip to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm! We collected tips from our Russian friend, Dina (married to Sahil's high school friend, Adit), Pranati Mami (Mana's Aunt in India), Shreya (Mana's friend from LSE), and Mike and Kelsey (Mana's friends from Kellogg) in preparation for a great trip! We had a flawless flight with Naaya to Moscow - no tears, no fuss, she was a total trooper! After being amazed initially, we realized Naaya will have completed 16 flights by her 1st bday! She is a seasoned traveler! We suspect that when she returns home, she will have it backwards and consider the car a special treat and the plane the more routine mode of transportation!
We got to Moscow and went straight to our hotel at the Ritz in Moscow. Sahil's consulting perks have benefited us in many ways, but the fancy hotels may be one of the great highlights - hooray for hotel points! We started day 1 by having the most amazing lunch at Cafe Pushkin for traditional Russian food the way old Russian aristocrats ate and lived. We ate up our Russian dumplings and pancakes in delight and then headed to the Red Square across the street from our hotel. We saw the Kremlin and visited the armory to get a taste of Russian culture, explored the largest department store in the world, GUM, and oogled over our favorite structure, St. Basil's Cathedral before visiting the surrounding beautiful fountains. That night we decided to have a chill dinner at the rooftop bar of our hotel, O2 Lounge, only to realize that we had arrived in one of the most talked about hot spots of Moscow! With its gorgeous views of the entire city to enjoy the beautiful city, this was Sahil's favorite spot in Moscow.
Our Day 2 in Moscow started with great news as one of Mana's best friends from college, Tina, had her baby boy Ajay! After celebrating in spirit with the Dave family, we began our next round of explorations from the famous Moscow metro stations which were gorgeous and worth checking out, followed by an afternoon in Gorky Park, where we had our other infamous Russian meal at a small cafe. We came across the most amazing Russian dish - Cherry Vareniki! It tasted like melt-in-your-mouth warm cherry pie. If you go to Russia, you MUST try it! After walking around the park with Naaya, we headed back to the hotel, packed our bags, and headed to the train station for the Sapsan Express to St. Petersburg!
We thoroughly enjoyed our train ride overlooking Russia's countryside and after 4.5 hours, we made it to
our next destination. When we got to St. Petersburg, we were picked up by the driver from the hotel and made our way to the W hotel in the center of the city across from the Hermitage. While it was amazing that daylight lasted until 11:30pm, we had a hard time convincing Naaya that it was sleepytime regardless of how bright it was! The next day we started early, first by going to the Hermitage and seeing one of the most beautiful palaces that provided a perfect depiction of Catherine the Great's time. From the gorgeous art to the beautiful architecture, it was well worth our time sightseeing thoroughly (though Naaya passed out through the entire experience!). After visiting the Hermitage, we took a boat to Peterhof Palace, which is known as Peter the Great's "Russian Versaille". When we arrived, we were indeed impressed with the 
beauty and grandiose grounds on which the palace sat. However, after going through the palace, we decided that the Hermitage was much more impressive on the inside. We had our share of fun Naaya memories here between Sahil having to carry the stroller up flights and flights of stairs, changing Naaya's diaper smack in the middle of the garden, etc, but we managed with success! Most importantly, Naaya continued to have a blast with us and roll with the punches without a fuss, so we were in good shape!
The next day we explored the city by foot, taking a boat tour around St. Petersburg, stopping for draft beers at the cafes on Nevsky Prospekt (which we enjoyed even more thoroughly given Ramadan spirit - meaning no alcohol or food during daytime- back home in Dubai), went to the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, a gorgeous cathedral made up of colorful domes and glass tiles throughout, and went to a local market where Sahil found Russian dolls with Redskins and Michigan on them for himself. He was thrilled with this find! As we continued to explore, we found a quaint cafe right at which Naaya decided it was time to shake things up and break one of Mana's lenses. Note the photo captured here. :)
All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in St. Petersburg before we headed to Helsinki for the third leg of our trip. While we arrived in full and happy spirits, we had a slight hiccup when FinnAir left our luggage in Russia because the plane was too small to carry it! Though it was a bit challenging given we were only in Helsinki for a full day, we managed and had a blast! We arrived at the Radisson Blu, got settled in, and began to explore the city.
We decided to jump on the hop-on-hop-off tour in Finland and took in the cute, quaint city. Our two favorite experiences in Helsinki was 1) our dinner the first night at Aino, a fantastic Finnish restaurant downtown on the historic Esplanade, and 2) the Rock Church. Aino was a great find with fantastic service from Mila who gave great recs on food and beer pairings. After Mila's raving review, Naaya and Mana were even adventurous enough to try the Finnish delicacy - Reindeer! Though Mana was a bit more nervous than Naaya (who is game to eat pretty much anything we'll let her), Sahil encouraged them to go for it and ultimately, they were glad they tried it! The Rock Church was a really cool site exactly as it sounds - a church carved from a rock, with a gorgeous copper dome to be perfectly acoustic. When we arrived, the pianist was playing in the church, and the sound was incredible. Mana equates it to the acoustics at Red Rocks, in Denver, Colorado - her favorite musical venue to date.
Helsinki was great and Mana's second favorite leg of the trip. We got our bags in time and then headed to Stockholm for the last 3 days of our trip where we celebrated our 5 year anniversary! We arrived at the Sheraton in Stockholm, located perfectly on the water right off of Gamla Stan, the old town. We were lucky to get a view overlooking the city with a separate room for Naaya to sleep soundly. It was perfect!
After our success with the Hop-on-
Hop-off in Helsinki, we decided to leverage that tour on day 1 so we could get a lay of the land in Stockholm. We explored via the bus tour and spend time in the key areas. We spent some key time in Gamla Stan, medieval Stockholm full of winding alleyways and charming small squares, and the Royal Palace. We also took Naaya to Skansen, in Djurgarden where she got to experience her second zoo experience ever (the first being in Minneapolis when she was about one month old)!. We saw all sorts of cool animals (peacocks, brown bears, wolves, reindeer, lions, and seals to name a few)!
On day 2, our 5 year anniversary (July 19th), we took a boat twenty minutes away from Stockholm out to one the islands of Sweden's archipelago known as Fjaderholmarna. We loved this experience because we were surrounded by locals who do this on the regular during the summertime (though it was very chilly per our summer standards for island relaxation). Nevertheless, it was amazingly charming and beautiful and a really fun outing!
That night we celebrated our anniversary and Naaya's 1 year birthday (1 week early) at a beautiful restaurant in Stockholm overlooking the city: Gondolen. It was breathtaking in every sense of the word. We drank a bottle of Louis Roederer Brut Premier and reminisced over our 5 years, with Naaya contributing over the last year of memories, of course. As the finale to our trip, there was no better way to conclude our whirlwind adventure!
We came back to Dubai after an amazing 10 days only to celebrate Naaya officially for her first birthday! The celebration started on July 24th, when Mana celebrated her one-year anniversary for the last date she and Naaya shared her tummy - they ate Haagen Dazs ice cream to ring in the 24th. Then, when Naaya went to sleep that night, Mana toasted with Sahil (over the phone, as he was en route from Saudi) for the one-year anniversary of their first labor experience in the hospital - oh what memorable 27 hours! Then finally, we celebrated Naaya's actual birthday on July 25th (her party will be in August post-Ramadan), with the arrival of her with her Dadi, Dada, and Chacha visiting us from the US! AND they thoughtfully came with LOTS of gifts for little Naaya!
Mana had taken Naaya's 1 year photo in advance to get it decorated on her red velvet cake for her to enjoy! With the Sanghvi family together in Dubai, most of the Bhatt family in India on Skype through the iphone, and Chacha taking photos of it all, we sang Happy Birthday to Naaya. It was very special and we enjoyed every second!Over the next few days, Naaya enjoyed her gifts from Chacha, Dada, and Dadi. She especially enjoyed the toy car that plays really fun songs and helps her mobilize around the apartment and Elmo!
We all had the chance to show Dada, Dadi, and Chacha a closer look at our life here in Dubai through the course of the next week. Though it was Ramadan in Dubai (meaning no eating or drinking in public from sunrise to sunset), resulting in occasions where we were stranded without food while out, we still managed to have a great time enjoying each day together. We went to the Dubai Mall on Friday of the first weekend where Dadi got some stylin' sunglasses and Chacha got a baller wallet. After seeing the Aquarium, they then headed to the Burj Khalifa. Afterwards, we regrouped again at the Armani cafe, one of the few restaurants open midday, for a very yummy lunch! In the evening, we headed back only to get freshened up for a great dinner at Pai Thai in Al Qasr for the first of many great family dinners over the week.
On Saturday, Sahil, Mana and Naaya went to the doctor for Naaya's 1-year appt while Dada, Dadi, and Chacha went to the Atlantis to check it out. Naaya had her vaccinations and checked out well meeting her milestones of cruising, talking in her babble language, and freaking out as
expected with the doctors and nurses :). For the rest of the day, she stayed home to recover with Mana while Sahil showed the family around Dubai on a long road trip to both Mana and Sahil's work, Pankaj Mama's old home, and the grocery store at Mall of Emirates. After
a great day, we regrouped and planned the rest of Dada, Dadi, and Chacha's week full of fun activities to see Dubai. While Sahil headed to Saudi on Sunday for 4 days, Mana, Naaya, and Myla continued to get good time with Dada, Dadi, and Chacha when they weren't on a Desert Safari, in Abu Dhabi, or in Deira.
We kicked off the following weekend by having Iftaar at the Address Hotel in Dubai Marina. We enjoyed an elaborate meal that we equated to a wedding reception feel, with lots and lots of food. After dinner, Chacha, Sahil, and Mana went to smoke hookah and get some quality sibling time together. Many hours later, we came home only so Mana and Sahil could wake up 4 hours later with Naaya :). It was worth it, though! On the last day together, we went to lunch at Loca, Sahil's favorite Mexican restaurant and then after Dada, Dadi, and Chacha saw the fountain show, they joined us at home for falafals over dinner. All in all, we had a really great time together and made some great memories that we'll look back on fondly!
Wow...this may be the longest blog to date - I guess that is to be expected with all of the celebrations July brings our way! We'll update you on the work front in August, but as for a quick update on Naaya, she is close to getting teeth (fingers crossed), and crawls more than she walks these days because she has realized how much easier it is to mobilize. She definitely doesn't want to sit still a whole lot as there is SO much to explore! Luckily we are headed to the UK and Ireland tomorrow so she'll be able to explore 2 new countries this week! We'll tell you all about it in our August blog! Until then, we hope you enjoy the last month of summer!
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