Getting ready for All Sports

We are getting ready for the Grand Opening of All Sports Consignment!! Ras and I have been putting in a lot of hours getting ready. Ras more than I, but I am told I have to keep my regular job. We open for regular hours starting the 3rd, and our Grand Opening is on Saturday the 8th. Everyone is excited and we are getting tons of positive feedback from folks in the community. Here are some photos...

A local guy painted this surfboard for us. We hope to work with him in the future on some other items for the store.

I made this golf area last weekend

We have two of these life like punching bags. Sam has spent a lot of time cleaning them. Too much time in fact.

Our wall of water sports has grown.

Some of our exercise equipment by the front windows

Random stuff from last few weeks...

A lot of stuff has been keeping the Everett clan busy in the past month. If I was real good I would be able to post more, but instead I share with you some random photos with explanations. That's huge.

When we were up north in Michigan, I showed my family how I used to cook hot dogs when I lived on the streets. Take a hot dog, put it in a bun and wrap it in one layer of tin foil. Then wrap it loosely in newspaper and place it in a cardboard box. Light the box on fire and once it all burns up, unwrap the foil and before you can say Kwame Kilpatrick, you are enjoying a perfectly cooked hot dog. Watch out for hobos.

Sammi and Mikey take in a sunset over Grand Traverse Bay

Mikey and his best Michigan buddy, Tyler, testing out some of the sports gear we picked up in Michigan.

This will be the video we use to demonstrate that we have rigorous quality control methods and that we only sell quality merchandise at All Sports. Here are two of our quality assurance employees.

I picked up this mounted northern pike in Michigan to hang with my salt water species. The folks where I now live have never seen a fish like this.

My mom and dad got me this barracuda to also hang on the wall. Also pictured is the sailfish with electrical tape being used to repair a broken bill.

Larry and LaCoe came down for a week vacation. We had a blast. Lots of activities during that week and many, many beers down the hatch.

We went to the Forth of July fireworks in Milton. Nice view of the show. Did sparklers before. Used Ras's camera to take the cool shot of Sammi and a sparkler.

Sammi holds Caleb's ears during the fireworks.

Larry, Scotty, Sammi, Mikey, and I went to Fort Pickens on Pensacola Beach. This is the fort that they imprisoned Geronimo at. Sam and Mikey pose behind bars.

Larry, Scott and I went fishing early one morning and saw this boat floating when we went out - when the tide was low. Apparently they owner tied his boat too tight because when the tide rose, the ropes prevented the boat from rising with the water. Instead, the water rose over the back, flooded the boat, and sank it. This is what we returned to four hours later. Mother Nature is a bitch.

We did not do very good fishing, but we spotted this huge grasshopper trying to swim across the bay. Larry scooped it up with his bare hands. Biggest grasshopper I have ever seen.

Today is Sammi's 11th Birthday. She chose Red Robin to eat at and had the pizza.

Per usual, the restaurant staff made a scene by singing Happy Birthday to Sammi. She was even lucky enough to get the red bird himself to make an appearance. Sammi was horrified.

More photos from the north...

Last day up in northern Michigan. Here are a few more photos. We had a great time and the weather was great. In Pensacola, the heat index has been 105 - 110F for the past few days. Here it has been in the 70s.

Jason, Tanya, Ras and I went to the wineries off of Old Mission Peninsula. We bought over 30 bottles of wine between us.

Ras and Rox at the Mackinaw Brewery

We hit the hard stuff after the wine

Mikey trying to get close enough to roast a marshmallow. The fire was fierce.

Sunset over Grand Traverse Bay

Me, Sammi, and Uncle E enjoying our last afternoon

Mikey, Sammi, and cousin Nick

Still in Michigan...

We are having a blast back home in Michigan. We spent the first week going to a Tigers game (they actually won) and spending time with Ras's parents. The kids went to the Detroit Zoo with Nana and Grandpa while I was up at the cabin. We also spent time with our good friends, the Rayls. This week we are with my parents near Traverse City enjoying the beauty of northern Michigan. Tanya, Jason, and baby Nick are with us, as well as Roxanne. The weather has been great. We are going wine tasting tomorrow in Traverse City. After I post this, I will be Jack Daniels tasting. Here are some photos I grabbed off of other cameras (Ras forgot the computer cable for our camera...RAS!)

Nick enjoying his first beer

Nick advertising for All Sports Consignment

Sammi and Mikey on Grand Traverse bay at sunset

Aunt Tanya, cousin Nick, and Uncle E

The Everett men in 45 degrees Grand Traverse Bay water. We are very tough.

The whole clan

Back in Michigan

We are back in Michigan for a couple of weeks. I had a chance to go up to the cabin with my buddy Larry, so we headed up for a day in northern MI. Took some photos, drank beer, and had a bonfire. Listened to the Wings lose game 6 around the fire. Take this in...

Red Columbine behind the cabin - on my back for the photo.

Beaver dam we discovered on one of our walks

We walked up the South Branch of the AuSable river

Larry and I were driving down a two-track when this fawn jumped out in front of the truck and ran in front of us. It would not get off the path and it ran in front of us for about 200 yards. It finally jumped off and laid down about 30 feet off the road. I wanted to try to get a pic so I went up to it slowly and it never spooked. After taking the pic, I actually pet it's backside for about 30 seconds before it got up and ran off. Just like Ras.

Larry stokes a romantic fire

Year End Honors...

Sammi's last day of school was yesterday, and Mikey just got on the bus for his last day. Ras and I went to Sammi's graduation yesterday from 5th grade. It was quite a ceremony. Sam was honored numerous times and racked up the following honors: A/B Honor role for the entire school year and FCAT Achievement Award for the highest possible ranking in math on the FCAT exam.

Sam stands with a very limited number of peers that scored perfect in the math category on the FCAT.

The 2009 Pea Ridge Elementary Class

A smart daughter and a proud dad

Mikey will get his academic honors at the conclusion of his school year. He did rack up some athletic achievements though. The "Masher" got a year end trophy as well as a game ball for a game where he went 3-3, with two doubles, a single, 2 RBIs and a run. Nice.

Mikey strokes one up the center for a single

Beating out the throw

The Masher with his hardware

All Sports coming soon...

We have been spending quite a bit of time in the store lately. We are still not open for business yet, but are open for consignment. We have taken in football, baseball and softball equipment so far. A lady came in with Tae-kwan-do stuff yesterday, so we have fighting gear as well. The shelves are filling up. We made our official first dollar yesterday when a lady and her son came in looking for a baseball mitt. We had a variety hanging so we let her choose one. She and her son signed one of the dollars and we framed it for the store.

I have been burning up Ebay getting football practice jerseys and baseball pants - all new with tags. The jerseys should go well as we will be into football season soon. My neighbor Mary and I have been hitting the garage sales in the area every Saturday and have been making good progress in increasing store inventory. My parents have even been hitting the sales in Michigan. We are coming up to Michigan for a two week vacation when the kids get out of school in a couple of weeks. We are bringing a trailer to haul back some shelving for the store as well as some of the stuff our parents have collected. Here are some more photos of the store...

Baseball and softball are going to be big sellers.

Most of the wetsuits came from Michigan

Cleats and rollerblades