Unique Way to Raise Money...

Each year, the Year 10 (9th grade) kids are in charge of doing a fundraiser at the boot (yard) sale. Jimmy helped Veronica and some of her friends set up a photography booth where kids could pay to have goofy photos taken and then folks could pay to vote for their favorite photo. Their booth raised around €60 for the bursary fund which helps students who have financial troubles during exam years.

Veronica and her English teacher got into the act as well. Guess her parents forgot to teach her that juggling knives is a bad idea. At least his parents taught him that his nail polish should match his clothes.

Orange Fever...

Once again, the girls got very into watching Holland in Euro Cup. Unfortunately, the Dutch team was placed in the “Group of Death” and were crushed by the competition and eliminated before the quarter finals.

Max makes a cute M&M lion

One of the neighbors was clearly very
disappointed by the Dutch loss

No More Bottom Braces...

After just nine months, the orthodontist declared that Veronica’s bite had been corrected and it was time to remove the bottom brackets. It will still take some time to move the top teeth together to fill the gaps left from her lack of two incisors, but there’s already a major improvement.

To the Rescue...

Imagine my surprise when the girls came home from walking Max, the black lab that they were dogsitting, and said they needed a shoe box for an injured crow. Ashlynn insisted on calling the pet hospital that runs an ambulance service. I wasn’t convinced that they’d want to help a lowly crow, but Ashlynn’s persistence paid off as they sent an ambulance to pick it up. How’s that for dedication!

A Little More of the Silver Mine...

Jimmy took the girls on a side tunnel to walk a balance beam. Needless to say, I skipped this part.

Another view of the creepy ladders. 

Rather than hike back down, we caught a bus into town. Then we found a restaurant along the river and had a relaxing dinner. We caught a train home the next morning. Bill and Nina will be moving to Switzerland soon and we look forward to visiting them there, although I’m afraid of what kind of adventures he might come up with in the Alps.

Hitting Bottom...

Here’s a cross-section of the mountaintop showing a map of the mine; clearly we had barely brushed the surface. Further down, you can see a big line across which designated the midwive’s tunnel, the shortest distance of 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) between villages on either side of the mountain.

Our guide dropped a rock at this pit and it went an awfully long way.

Luckily we didn’t go down this extra long ladder as we’d already reached the bottom of our tour.

More Ladders...

After the first 1.5 hours, the tour guide escorted most of the group back up to the surface. She then took us five plus one other fellow even further into the depths of the mountain.

Jimmy is much better with photography in low light, so unfortunately there’s no photos of him. Of course, he completely loved the entire experience. Despite his claims of being claustrophobic, he never felt uncomfortable.