Portraits: Dylan Heck

"You feel really tall up here," says Dylan Heck, 13, from his tree house vantage point about 14 feet above the ground. He and his brother Nicholas Perry, 12, both of Grand Forks, climb up the ladder to the 6-foot-by-8-foot house when they visit their grandparents in Fargo, where the house is located. "Sometimes we play our (handheld electronic) games up there," said Dylan. "The roof works pretty good to keep the rain out," he says. The house was built about two years ago by his grandfather, Stuart Longtin. Dylan got to help a little bit with the construction. His idea was to tie a bucket to a rope so they could hoist things up to the house. "Grandma Cindy sent our lunch up once in the bucket," Dylan recalls. Grandfather Stuart says he used salvaged materials to build the house and didn't pound any nails into the tree. Everything was lashed together, taking advantage of the limbs of the tree. "I drew the line at putting in water and electricity," he said.