We kicked off the official Wallis reunion with a fun hike the day before heading to Coeur d'Alene. It's a hike we've done several times with our boys, so it was easy enough for some of the little kids. We love going to Twin Falls, because you can get down to the river and do some rock hopping and get right under the water fall! Grandma opted to stay home with the babies and Clara, but here's a picture of the rest of us!
Uncle Brian is SO patient! All the kids love him!
See what I mean! I think he had at least two kids holding his hands or hanging on him the entire hike!
Jackson was a trooper! He hiked a lot of the way. He's so cute with the camelback on his back!
Laura, Sarah and I.
Uncle Brian with Adam, Jackson and Emmalynne.
Jared, Jackson and Zac
Mike and Laura.
Grandpa!
We made it down to the river! The kids were ready to do some rock hopping!
It was a good thing we had Uncle Brian, Uncle Carman, Jared, Zac, Scott and Mike there! They helped the kids go back and forth across the river, hopping on rocks and making little bridges. There were only a couple of falls into the river. Never fear - it wasn't the kids going in!!
Some of our crew. You can see Brian at the left of the picture getting ready to help Emmalynne over to her dad on the next rock.
We got right up to the water fall.
Jared and Zac were so awesome! Adam was the next closest in age to them (a difference of 8 years). They were great to hang out with him and helped him cross the river several times! (Jared even saved his life once!!)
Jackson and his favorite Uncle Brian!!
A few crazies decided to hope into the snow melt fed river! I guess they thought we were in North Carolina or something. They didn't stay in for very long! (Sarah and Zac)
Jackson and Uncle Mike watching the crazies swim.
Mike became one of the crazies a little later after falling in the river crossing over a makeshift bridge...
Adam
Siblings - Scott, Sarah, Laura and Brian
We always have to get this picture! Cooling down by sticking your head in the river. It really wasn't that warm of a day! I'm not sure what they were thinking! (Brian and Jackson)
Emmalynne thought it was pretty cool, so she joined them.
Making the jump!
Scott, Adam and Brian with Laura joining in!
Messing around!
The kids wanted to cross the river one last time before we hiked out. The guys were always willing! This last time, Brian was swinging Emmalynne across to her dad. Apparently, she's not very good at letting go, and Brian ended up in the river with one leg hooked on the rock. He could have sucked on his big toe if he wanted too! Scott stood there looking at him - kind of stunned and then busted up laughing! Luckily, Laura had her camera close and was able to capture a few pictures. Once Scott settled down, he helped Brian out. Emmalynne didn't get a bit wet!
A closer look at Brian's swim! I didn't know he was so flexible! (I don't think he knew either!)
This is the part where Jared saved Adam! I'm not sure how Laura captured this on film, but she did! What you can't see in this picture is that Adam is about to fall head first into a swiftly moving section of the river. He had just jumped over from the rock and his momentum kept him going. I screamed as he kept moving forward, Jared swung around and grabbed him before he went in! It was amazing!!
More rock hopping!
This is the make shift bridge the boys had made! No one fell off of it until Brian was showing some other people how "safe" it was to cross! It was hilarious!
After playing in the water, we hiked back out and headed home to pack up and get ready to go to Coeur d'Alene. It was a fun day!!
