She Won It!

I haven't been able to watch DD's swim team practices since I'm always watching DS#3 in the park. She had two races today, and I was a little surprised when she won her first race. I noticed that she came out strong, but I was so focused on her and on taking photos of her first race ever, that I didn't realize that she got First Place in her heat (Freestyle Girls 6 and under). She looked pretty pleased with herself.

This photo was actually taken after her second race. She again won her heat, but this time she was doing the backstroke. Her smile is more genuine here compared to the photo I took after the first race, probably because I quickly snapped it soon after she had gotten out of the water and gotten her ribbon. I wish I could have gotten a photo of her right when she first saw the ribbon. Her "I'm so pleased with myself" smile was priceless!

I took so many photos during the swim meet today, but this is one of my favorites. It's one of the few action photos that actually turned out well. The backstroke for the 6 and under age group was rather funny. The kids at that age never swim in a straight line, especially in the backstroke where they can't see where they're going. DD ran into the lane dividers a few times, but she still won by a couple of lengths! We'll find out who actually won each whole race at practice on Monday.

This is one of the few photos I took of DS#1 that turned out well. He's doing the backstroke here, too. He swam in four races (where he swam 50mm for each race):
-- Medley Relay where he did the breaststroke
-- Freestyle
-- Backstroke
-- Freestyle Relay
He got third place in each of those heats. Not bad for his only having been about four times in the last three weeks of practice.

Not only did DD have an exciting morning, but she had her piano recital this afternoon, too. I'm playing with the manual settings of my camera and my new lens here. I'm not pleased that the medal is the only thing in focus, not DD's face, but the photo still looks okay in this small version.

As you can see, she was a little excited about getting even more ribbons this afternoon. She got a ribbon and a certificate for the Achievement Auditions she did in April and one for the Guild she did just a couple of weeks ago. She also got a ribbon for practicing at least 90% of her assigned practice time, which is 75 minutes a week. The ribbon she is wearing in this picture is for getting a perfect score on her Theory Test a few months ago. She was also the only one to get a trophy for being "Rookie of the Year", meaning that she was the only one of her teacher's students that only started playing piano this past year.

We went out for ice cream again tonight. This time it was at Brindles, our favorite ice cream shop. Every time we go there, DD asks for chocolate ice cream with gummi bears mixed in. Tonight was the first time I said "yes" because DH always cringes when he hears that combination. DS#1 wanted to know if he could get something extra for getting all of those third place finishes today. Surprisingly he wanted a new book (Half-Price Books is next door) instead of more ice cream.