One for their first vacations with Zoey was to the Baltic in Germany.
It was amazing.
It wasn't to hot because of the strong wind, but if you turned one of the beach chairs the right way and sat in them with the sun shining on your skin, you could sit there in only your swimwear with out getting cold.
And that's what Kate had done before Rick went to get lunch for the whole family. He had played with their three year old daughter Zeoy.
She had insisted on building an awesome sandcastle with her dad. And they did. A huge one. It had a garden, a wall and it's own moat with a direct water supply by the sea. They even managed to built a tiny bridge so the prince and the princess could still leave to save the world from the bad guys, as explained by Zoey.
When they had finished, Zoey decided she wanted to have some fish. She loved something called "Backfisch". It was kind of like Schnitzel, only with fish.
Sadly the best fish place in town was quite far from where they decides to spend the day on the beach.
While Rick and Zoey had built the castle Kate had been dozing. She was wearing his favorite red bikini and sunglasses. You would think she was a sleep, but despite her sunglasses, Rick could tell, that she was watching them. There was this tiny smile on her face. The first time he had seen it was, when the had held their daughter for the very first time. He called it the Castle-Zoey smile.
She was a very protective mother, but when she knew that Castle tool care of their little girl, she was totally relaxed. Kate would never admit it, but Rick could see it every time.
The moment he told Kate he would leave to get food, she was in full mother-mode again. When he than actually left, she was applying a huge amount of sunscreen on Zoey.
"Mummy, funny smell." Zoey had complained, but knowing her mother she gave up quickly.
"We can get you some of that ice cream you like, as a reward for you being so brave, ok?"
"Ice cream! Ice cream!"
When he came back quite some time later with their fish in his hands, it was surprisingly quiet. He could hear neither Kate nor Zoey speak. Of course there was other kind of noise on the crowded beach, but could always distinguish his girls' voices from others.
He came to the beach chair from behind, but when he walked around it to the opening, he had an amazing picture in front of him. It was just beautiful and the first thing he did, was take a picture with his phone.
They were asleep. Kate dressed only in her bikini, lay inside the beach chair with her back to the outside and her long legs folded. She had taken off her sunglasses, used a towel as a pillow and had put her purse below her knees.
The only thing that made this picture even more wonderful, was their daughter sleeping peacefully in her mothers arms. Kate had dressed her in white shorts and Zoey's favorite NYPD t-shirt. Kate had positioned herself, so her back would be warmed by the sun, but Zoey wouldn't get a sunburn by laying in the sun for too long. Kate's hair was around her shoulders. As always, Zoey had taken a strand of Kate's hair into her fist and was sucking the thumb of this same hand, so she could smell her mother's hair while sleeping.
Suddenly Zoey's eyes flew open.
"Daddy!" she exclaimed.