Must Have Mondays - Things I Love: the park

The beach is a great escape... but for Brooklyn dwellers like ourselves, it's a bit of work to get there, and, especially with a kid, you need all this stuff - chairs, an umbrella, towels, swim suits, swimmies, beach toys, water wings and floaties. Don't get me wrong, I love the beach, but for an easier, more accessible, every day break, I'm a park girl all the way.

I love the park.

Keith and I fell in love in the park, spending long summer afternoons on a blanket at Sheep's Meadow in Central Park, talking about everything and nothing - just being. Sheep's Meadow remains one of my favorite places in the city to this day.

One summer, post-Keith, pre-Liam, I biked around Prospect Park several times before work and loved getting that shot of greenery and a little bit of a workout before heading into the city on the subway. I got some of my best ideas on those bike rides - maybe one day my life will be such that I can do that again.

Nowadays, more often than not, Liam and I head out to Prospect Park to sit under a shady tree and enjoy open, green space, a haven within the bustling city that we love. I also count the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the nearby Pratt Campus as "park" - two other favorite places we go regularly, and we often meet up with our toddler and mom friends at all of these locations. Those are the long summer mornings I'll remember for the rest of my life, when being a mom feels more like vacation than work, and I can't imagine any place I'd rather be.

I love you park!

nyc baby, child and family photographer & architect alethea cheng fitzpatrick is based in brooklyn. she specializes in baby photography as interior design & interior design for babies. view her portfolio of babies, children or families or send her an e-mail here!