The Heckman Family: Father's Day Weekend

As you know, I like to turn special occasions into a big reason to celebrate. Especially when it's a holiday like Father's Day.
I have a wonderful father and super special father-in-law too. I am blessed in both areas. They are kind, generous, loving and so incredible with our kids. I love them dearly!

I also have one of the most amazing husband's in the world who is a spectacular father to our two children. I often look at him when he's with them and just say a silent prayer thanking God for giving him to me. He teaches them about life, God's love, generosity, standing up for themselves, how to be a gentleman, respecting others, and he always makes sure they compliment me. As I said, I am so blessed to "do life" with him.

So, I wanted to make Father's Day a great celebration weekend in recognition of all that he does for us. We started Saturday morning bright and early by heading out to the beach. We got there by 8:45 a.m. and the beach was nearly empty. It was so beautiful and quiet. There was a cool breeze in the air and the kids were ready to play!

The boys heading down the boardwalk to the beach.

Payton had so much fun "walking on water" - really there is a huge rock structure that sits just below the water line when the tide is high.

Parker just loves playing in the sand:

Look how happy he is!

We ate lunch at the ocean-side restaurant where we were and then headed out. On the way home, Parker fell asleep (ocean air will do that to anyone!) so we stopped at a new meat market to pick up some steaks for Father's Day. The place was packed, which is always a good sign!

Brian got a little cat-nap in Saturday afternoon while I cleaned up from the beach and then we both got ready for a special date I had planned.

Our sitter arrived and we headed out to one of Brian's favorite Irish pubs where he got to enjoy a pint:

And a Scotch egg. Never heard of a Scotch egg? Well, it's a deviled egg, wrapped in sausage and then deep fried. Oh boy, was he in heaven!

After the pub, we did a little shopping and then headed to my little surprise.

I booked Brian a professional barber shop shave at "The Art of Shaving."

The barber has been doing this for over 30 years, but the store itself is new to Tampa. They only had 1 appointment available on Saturday, so I guess it's doing quite well.

First, they started off with a hot oil massage:

Then a steam towel:

And then the straight-edge razor shave:

I think the barber was getting annoyed with me taking pictures, so I stopped there, but the whole experience took 30 minutes. It was quite intense.

Needless to say, I couldn't stop touching Brian's face the rest of the night! It was SO smooth and smelled so good!

Sunday morning started out pretty typical with church. Then we opened presents and Brian read through all of Payton's cards (there were 4 of them if you were wondering).

(Do you think someone was licking the beaters from the chocolate cake I was making???)

Intently reading the cards together:

Payton made Brian a paper tie. And of course got him the cliche pair of socks (at least Brian looks really excited about them).

And while we were at the store, Payton spotted these beauties and insisted that he HAD to buy them for Daddy. "He will LOVE them!" And he did! :)

We had some low-key family time in the afternoon playing in the yard:

And then we had two very special families over for dinner that evening. Brian is really close with the husbands and I am really close with the wives and the kids all get along great. It was the perfect Father's Day BBQ!