4th Annual Trek to Penn State :)

It has become tradition to visit Alyssa in October at Penn State. This, of course, was our last annual visit to see Alyssa, but we are excited to be able to continue the tradition the next three years with Adam. Kurt and I spent the night at a hotel, while Adam stayed with Alyssa in her townhouse. This year was a bit different, in that, after we hung out on campus for a while on Saturday, we left Adam in State College to visit some of his friends who are there, while we drove the 40 miles to see where Alyssa is doing her pre student teaching.

We have always allowed Adam to choose where we eat when we get there on Friday night, as this is his belated birthday dinner. He has always wanted to wait til the four of us could be together. Again this year, he chose Texas Roadhouse:

I was hoping to use one of these pictures at the lion for our Christmas card, but with the way the sun was shining through the trees, I wasn't so excited with them. They're nice pics, but there's too much shadowing :(

You can see these huge paws outside the Palmer Museum of Art:

Alyssa pointed out the shadowing in this picture :)

Looking eye to eye with JoePa:

She, on the other hand, fits nicely in JoePa's armpit :)

Various pictures taken at Old Main:

One of the many squirrels on campus. These guys are not shy....Alyssa said they walk right up to you as you're walking through campus:

Here's the school that Alyssa is currently at:

And no trip to State College is complete until we stop by and visit Matt, Karlyn and the kids:

It's hard to believe that Alyssa's time here at Penn State is coming to a close. When we got home from State College on Saturday, there was a letter waiting for her welcoming her to the school she will be doing her student teaching at this coming Spring. She will be teaching in a high school that is 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. She and two other girls are currently looking for housing some where in the vicinity of the three different schools they will be teaching at. Unfortunately, they only need an apartment for a little over three months. We're hoping they can find something that has month to month leases, as they certainly don't need a year's lease. There are 20 students in the math major, and apparently quite a few of them live in the Pittsburgh area, thus can live at home. Her last day of student teaching is 4.22.10 and then she's done. I'm not sure where we go after that :) We'll keep you posted!