July 4th at Tama Hills

So for our 2nd anniversary/July 4th long weekend, we decided to take a family trip to Tama Hills Recreation Area. It is an area that once belonged to the Japanese and was used as an ammunitions building and storage area during WW2. Now it is a camping/hiking/recreation area for US military members and dependents. They have a hotel, some tent camping sites, a few cabins, horses, a golf course and mini golf course, paintball...stuff like that. It's only about 15 miles from Yokota, but takes about an hour to drive there. We thought it would be a good place to hang out for the long weekend, without being far away or costing a lot. We reserved it kinda late, so we stayed at the hotel instead of a cabin (it was wayyyy too hot to camp), but it was still fun.

We went hiking for a bit.

We went and checked out the horses, and they TERRIFIED Mallory. We aren't sure why, as she loves the dogs and cats, but she wanted nothing to do with the horses. She wouldn't pet them and freaked out and looked the other way when either Brett or I would try to get near one. Needless to say, horseback riding was crossed off the list of things to do for the weekend.

Around the area, you can still find ammunition bunkers left over from the war. This was where the Japanese stored their ammunition after it was produced but not yet used. They are now just empty concrete buildings, filled with dust and cobwebs, but interesting to check out.

Our 4th of July girl, cooling off with some water after our walk.

We decided to b-b-q one night, so Brett prepared some meat and veggie skewers in our hotel room.

Ready to eat some July 4th goodies- isn't she so cute in her red, white and blue?!?

Since we were in the hotel, we had to "rent" one of the pavilions and use the grill. I think they thought there was a group of us, since we had several grills and tables all to ourselves.

Prepping the food

Our meat and veggie skewers and some other grilled veggies- yum!

Mallory wanted to be like the big kids, and drink a Heinekin.

How do I open this thing, anyway?

Alright, I'll just stick with water.

Hmmm...if I can't have beer, maybe I'll just play with fire instead (doesn't she have such good parents?) No children were harmed in this weekends events. In fact, no kids drank beer or touched flames.

Dinner all ready to go.

We had a great weekend, and it was good to get away, spend time together as a family and think about our wonderful 2 years together. We know just how blessed we have been and hope for many more fantastic, memorable years together.