Cucumber and Barley Salad

Last night I was craving a vegetable salad without lattice. I gathered all the vegetables I wanted in the salad and then I thought I needed to make it hardy. First I thought about putting grilled chicken in it but I didn't have any defrosted. I was looking through my can items and found some chick peas, which I love. Then I saw the pearl barley. Perfect! These two items will make the salad not only hardy but full of protein and fiber.

Salad ingredients:

1 large Cucumber

1 cup diced Green bell pepper

1 cup diced Vidalia onion

1/2 cup chopped fresh Parsley, two tablespoons for dressing

2 cups of Cherry Tomatoes sliced in half

1 can Chick Peas

2 cups of cooked Pearl Barley

Garlic and Butter Croutons

6 oz. Tomato Basil Feta Cheese, 2 oz. for the salad dressing

2 cloves of chopped Garlic, 1 clove for the salad dressing

Add all ingredients together in a large bowl except for the Feta Cheese and croutons.   Add them when you are ready to serve the salad. 

 

Pearl Barley, Cook according to the direction on the package. Let cool before adding the vegetables.

Salad Dressing:

1 clove of chopped Garlic

2 tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley

2 oz. Tomato Basil Feta Cheese

1 tea. salt

1 tea. pepper

½ cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

¼ cup of water.

Mix all ingredients together until it is creamy.

Our Last Day of our Summer Vacation!

Our last day on our summer vacation didn't turn out as planned. Yesterday I posted about the wonderful refreshing day we spent at Aquatica Water Park. The day before I posted about our Universal Studio visit and how hot it was. We were truly on the verge of heat exhaustion. On our last day we had plans on going to SeaWorld. We weren't real thrilled with the heat and waiting in the long lines again. As we were getting ready to go to SeaWorld we were listening to the news.  The weather report comes on and they said the temperatures were going to be 105 degrees. At that moment we decided not to go. We will use our SeaWorld tickets another time when the weather isn't so hot. I think the Chief and I both sighed at the same time. We were able to take our time and have a nice breakfast at the Wilderness Lodge, where we were staying.

Now that we are not rushing to get out of the hotel we enjoyed the morning scenery out our balcony. As soon as we opened the doors we saw a plane sky righting God's message. I have always been amazed on how skilled a pilot must be to write something in the sky.

Every night the housekeeper left us a different towel animal.  Very cute!!!1

We went down for breakfast and the Cisco Kid is reading the morning paper.  I wish the News Papers would print News Papers just for kids.  The Cisco Kid would totally be into it. 

It was time to ride the horse.  They got all the kids in a line and handed them a horse on a stick so they could gallop around the restaurant to music.  Very Cute!!!!

It was nice and relaxing just taking our time. 

I'll let you know when we decide to take our SeaWorld trip.  The Cisco Kid was about two and a half the last time he was there, and I know he would enjoy it.  

Have a great Weekend!!! 

The Second Day of our Orlando Vacation

Aquatica here we come!!!! The first day of our vacation was lots of fun but it was so HOT!!! We made plans to go to SeaWorld. After being in the heat all day we couldn't stand a second day of waiting in hot lines. It took us all about two seconds to switch our days around and head to Aquatica where we could be in the cool water all day. We have been to Disney’s Blizzard Beach and Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon in the past and I thought those water parks were great.  We now have a new water park that we love. Aquatica!!!!! Yes, this is our favorite water park. They have two lazy rivers. One of them is very lazy. You just float around on a tube. The second is great. It has jets that shoot you through the water with waterfalls and water sprays throughout the river. Fun! Fun! Fun! We spent at least three hours going around and around on that. Their wave pool is nothing like Typhoon Lagoons but For the Cisco Kid it is very age appropriate. The large kid area was lots of fun with all the working water toys. This gave the Chief and me a chance to sit and watch The Cisco Kid play.   

Before dinner we took a small stroll around the hotel grounds to see some of the sights and then we took the boat over to Grand Floridian for Dinner.

 The Wilderness’s Hotel has a man made geyser. It sprays so hard and if the wind are just right it will spray into the hotel rooms.  We never saw it at it's finest. 

Day one of our Orlando Vacation in Island of Adventure / Universal Studios.

We got up bright and early so we could beat the crowded lines at Universal Studios. First stop was Island of Adventure.

Since the Chief is a big Harry Potter fan we decided to go to that part of the park first. Even though we were there at 8:30 in the morning we still had to wait in line for one hour, and that was just to get in the Harry potter part of the park. As we were waiting in line we over heard the people behind us saying the line was eight hours long the night before. Once we got into the Harry Potter Park there were many things to see and do. We only saw two things in there. One of them was riding on the rollercoaster. The second was seeing the Hogwarts school. We waited in line for another hour to see that. I'm glad we did. It was worth the wait. The attention to detail was amazing. Just like the movies. We started walking through the castle and we passed the talking art work. They had the stair cases that didn't connect to give you the idea the stairs were moving. Then we passed the news paper with an article that moved. As we continued walking there bigger than life was Dumbledore, as real as could be. Then we came across Harry, Weasley and Armenia, talking about their adventures and the invisible cloak. Now we were ready to step on to the ride. Everything we just saw and heard lead up to us concluding the story on this amazing ride. It gave you a very real experience of flying, chasing, fighting and so much more. We were in the park for three and a half hours and only saw two things. It was so crowded and HOT, we decided to leave and put our express passes to work. We will try this park again in about three years when the hype dies down.

Dr Seuss is one of our favorite parts of the park. 

This is on top of the roof of the buildings.

The Chief and The Cisco Kid loves water rides. I stayed behind because I don't care for them, only because I don’t like feeling soggy all day. They came off that ride soaked, from head to toe.  

We did everything we wanted Islands of Adventure so now we were off to Universal Studios.  As we were walking over the band was playing.  We had to stop and enjoy some good music. 

Or first stop at Universal Studios was Twister.  The Cisco Kid loves to know all about Twisters.  This not only showed him all about tornados but the actually simulated one on this stage.  He Loved It!

We also enjoyed Jimmy Neutron, Disaster, The Simpsons, E.T. Curious George's Rollercoaster and water play area. After seeing everything we wanted, we decided to head back to the hotel and enjoy the cool refreshing pool.  

 

The Disney Hotels always have many activities going on throughout the day. Since we were at the park all day we were able to enjoy the evening activities. At 8:00 they showed an outdoor movie. The Princes and The Frog. At 9:30 there was a lighted boat show and at 10:00 the grand finally of fireworks. 

The boat show and the fireworks pictures were taken from our balcony.  We were so exhausted  from the heat and being at Universal all day, we went up to our room, got into our P.J's and relaxed.  We were so happy that we were able to see the lighted boat show and the fireworks from our balcony.  

Until tomorrow! The second day of our vacation.  Have a great evening.