Melanie's Monday - The New School Year!

Hey guys, it's Melanie!

Even though there are still a few weeks left of summer vacation, it's already almost time to start school! Can you believe it? It seems like yesterday that the school year was ending, and we were all getting ready to watch Cal graduate. Time sure does fly in the summer!

I love summer. (There's no doubt about that.) Getting to go to BBQs, going swimming, going on road trips with your friends... Even with all that stuff going on in the summer, I'm still actually looking forward to going back to school. Reuniting with friends, meeting new people, hopefully getting some awesome classes. And this year I'll be a junior in high school. That's going to be pretty awesome!

Cal's obviously not going to be there, so that's a major bummer. But, like I've said in other blogs, at least he'll be going to the community college, so he'll be close by and not what seems like a million miles away. But at least Kassie will still be at school.

So now, even though summer is my favorite season, I am anxiously waiting to get my school schedule and find out what classes and teachers I got and start to find out who's in my classes. (Hopefully Kassie will be in my classes!) And hopefully this year will be more amazing than last! (And I must say that last year was pretty amazing!)

What about you guys? Love summer? Hate summer? Those of you in school, looking forward to it?

Now I'm going to go soak up the last of my summer vacation! Not going to let a minute go to waste!

Melanie Ryder is a character that can be found in Alyssa Montgomery's short stories, Where Are You? and 9:53 P.M. (from the Heat of the Moment Anthology).

Melanie's Monday - Road Trip!

Hey guys! It's Melanie!

So. The road trip. It was awesome!

We left at the break of dawn. I loved being on the road to see the sun rise! It's so beautiful! And even though it was early in the morning, it was awesome to have this excitement in the car! I could just tell that it was going to be a great trip.

We spent a few days up in the mountains, and it was so pretty there! It was nice to actually get to see countless stars in the sky that weren't washed out by city lights.

And the story with the tent. Hilarious! So even though new tents require a small amount of work to set up, the guys managed to somehow make it a maximum amount of work to set up. Kassie and I had no problem setting it up (just one look at the directions), but for some reason, Cal and Paul had the most difficult time getting that tent open and to stay open! It eventually took the four of us to get that thing open properly.

But we had the best time in the mountains. We had campfires every night, and we'd brought more than enough graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows for a s'mores fest each night! I can't even put into words how nice it was to just be away from the big city, away from any possible worries, and just be having a great time, making s'mores, with my friends. It was honestly a great time.

During the day, we spent time hiking and just exploring the general area. (And watching out for snakes. Don't need any surprises there!)

When we had finished our trip in the mountains, we spent the rest of our trip driving around the state and seeing general landmarks and such. (Which was when I was able to quickly get to an internet cafe to leave last week's blog!)

This trip, though, was amazing! That is really all I have to say. I couldn't have imagined it going better.

Any amazing trips that you all have taken?

Melanie Ryder is a character that can be found in Alyssa Montgomery's short stories, Where Are You? and 9:53 P.M. (from the Heat of the Moment Anthology).

Melanie's Monday (or Tuesday) - Road Trip!

Hey everyone, it's Melanie! Sorry about the delay, but as I said, I didn't bring a laptop with me on this trip! So I'm making a quick stop at an internet cafe to write this blog while everyone else grabs something to eat!

So I have to say that so far, this road trip has been...

AMAZING!

We've had the best time! We spent a couple days camping in the mountains (where I gladly did not freeze my butt off because I had packed all those warm clothes), where we laughed as Paul and Cal struggled to pop open his tent. Since Kassie and I managed to pop ours open pretty easily, it's kind of difficult to understand why they had such a hard time at setting up that tent. (But it's okay because it provided us with some good entertainment. Ha)

But as for all the rest of the stories, there simply is not time right now. But you all are going to hear all about it next Monday after I've come home!

So until then!

Melanie Ryder is a character that can be found in Alyssa Montgomery's short stories, Where Are You? and 9:53 P.M. (from the Heat of the Moment Anthology).

Melanie's Monday - Road Trip Prep!

It's Monday, so that means it's time for Melanie's Monday! Yay! And for those of you who don't know me, my name is Melanie Ryder, and I'm one of the characters from a couple of Alyssa Montgomery's E-Books!

So, this week has been super busy since I've been preparing for my...

Road trip!

And I'd have to say that I'm pretty excited. It's going to be awesome! This could be one of the last times all of us get to hang out for a long time, what with Cal and Paul leaving for college in the fall. So it's definitely going to rock.

So I've spent the last week with Kassie making sure that all our reservations are okay, and then going shopping for everything that I need. Which is quite a lot (something that I didn't expect until I actually started going shopping!) I had to buy a new sleeping bag for the nights that we're camping along with roughly a million batteries for my camera and flashlight. There is no way that I'm going to be running out of batteries. (Especially when I'm in the dark. My flashlight is not dying on me then!)

And then I had to make sure that I had enough warm clothes for when we're in the mountains. Just like I'm not going without a flashlight in the dark, I'm not going to turn into a popsicle at night because I didn't pack clothes that will keep me warm at night. And I know that however warm my sleeping bag is that it's just not going to cut it.

So now I'm totally psyched for this trip! We'll be gone for ten days, which means that you're going to be getting a special post next Monday from on the trip! (Or somewhere around there. We're not bringing a laptop, so it's either post from an internet cafe, or wait until the end of the trip. I guess we'll just wait and see what happens!

Well, that's it for now! I'll be leaving tomorrow for my trip! Yipee!

Melanie Ryder is a character that can be found in Alyssa Montgomery's short stories, Where Are You? and 9:53 P.M. (from the Heat of the Moment Anthology).