Cute cabin, Where are the Huckleberries? and My Grown-up Baby Boy . . .

Last week while Rachel and Noelle were at Girl's Camp, we took the boys up near the Canadian border for a couple of nights camping. 

This is the cabin we stayed in the first night - so comfy and cozy!  Thank you Sam and Marla, for letting us stay there!

The next morning, we went out in search of the famous north Idaho Huckleberry.  It is our tradition to go into the mountains every summer in search of this tiny tart blue-berry. 

Not much luck this year.  We looked high and low, and even drove down little used paths - I don't think they've been roads in a long while . . .I cringed for miles as branches scraped both sides of the truck, and prayed that there would be a spot wide enough to turn around. 

Somewhere.

Eventually we found one.

And we found some berries, too. 

But they were very tiny,

and we only managed to pick less than one gallon.  

The next night we went to our favorite north Idaho campground, one that has a paved loop to ride bikes on.  Isaac brought his brand-new bike (one that he bought with his own money - very proud of him!) and Tanner had his, too, complete with training wheels.  And I was bound and determined that those 'lil wheels would be gone before we returned home to our long gravel driveway. 
So Mark took them off.
After about 3 frustrating laps running alongside him, holding on to the back of his jacket, and tipping over time and again anyway, and constantly encouraging him to get back on and not give up, he finally figured  out the balance thing! 
(I wonder if telling him it would be embarrassing to have training wheels on during the Cub Scout bike rodeo did the trick?  I think so...even if that's more than a year away!)

Too cool for . . .

baby training wheels!  Ha!