Blind, Deaf, and just a Mess

For those of you that don't know my dad, he is the best. At the age of 70, he still does his best to be one of the boy's, throwing batting practice to my baseball team, helps my brother and I coach football, and he still attempts to play in the ward softball tournament, even though he is at least 25 years older than anyone else on the field. The only thing that really shows his age is his driving ability. He is all over the road. It isn't "Life in the fast lane", it is "Life in EVERY LANE." My brother and I have nick named him the "Bird Man" because we get the finger all the time while driving around town.

2008 however, has been a rough year for him. To start the year off he had retina surgery to fix a detached retina. After that surgery he had to have cataract surgery as a result of the retina surgery. So now he is kinda blind in one eye. Which makes the driving experience even more interesting. A few months later, he had a hip replacement, and was out of it for 6 weeks. And today, he has once again gone under the knife to repair some pinched nerves in his back, and the doc says this one will keep him out for another 6 to 8 weeks. To finish it all of, he is also 80 percent deaf in his left ear. I DON'T WANT TO GET OLD!!!!

Now for all of you that want to feel sorry for him, DON'T. There is only one reason he has subjected himself to all of this, so he can play GOLF. It is not for his health, nor his family, just golf. We don't mind him playing golf, we just hope that eventually he will let us drive, although the day would be a little less interesting if that happened.

July 24

Pioneer Day was quite the day for us this year. To start the day off, I woke up a 6 to put out flags with our scout troop. I was exhausted, due to the fact that I had stayed up until 1 playing Guitar Hero. When I got home, Michelle and I watched the 24th of July Day Parade, and to top the day off we, along with our good friends the McClearys, decided to go to 'This Is the Place Heritage Park.' The park has a petting zoo area where the kids were able to see some sheep, baby goats, rabbits, cows, and Eesti even pet a snake. Around 1 o'clock, it was too hot to keep wandering around, so we went and got ice cream at the old fashion ice cream parlor in the park. After that, it was defiantly time to go, the kids were hot, tired and ready to go home. I think Michelle was on the verge of going insane trying to deal with a hot and tired Eesti.

After a much "heated" debate about what to do for the rest of the day, swimming was the only thing that made sense. We gave the kids a brief nap and headed off to the Kearn's Aquatic Center. It was a great way to end the day.

Hogle Zoo

The other day, my kids were driving me nuts, so I decided to go to the zoo. Even though Brian and I had already been there this summer, it was all that I could come up with to keep my sanity. I called my Mom and Grandma and off we went to Hogle Zoo. It was a blast. Eesti and Gisele were such angels, and loved every minute they spent with Monka and GG. Eesti's favorite part was the giant elephant that blows water out of its trunk. Gisele loved the bears and just being with her sister. We had a great time.

The Cabin

This year for the Fourth of July, we made our annual pilgrimage to West Yellowstone, MT. We have a little cabin just outside of town on Hebgen Lake, and it is awesome. Beach front property, world class fishing, minutes from Yellowstone National Park, and all the 4 wheeler trails you could want; perfect. The cabin has been in the family since the 40's, so for the Fogg's, and the extended family, this place represents most of our summer vacation memories. The greatest part about the cabin is now we get to pass it on to Eesti and Gisele.
The Fourth was awesome. We all climbed in the boat's, and headed down to the dam for the best fireworks display we have ever seen. Stadium of Fire is nothing compared to watching fireworks from the boat, coming over the lake, with the Montana mountains in the background. Even little Gisele was enamored by the fireworks. The rest of the week was spent water skiing, playing in Hebgen, and visiting Yellowstone.