This was our first full weekend home in a while. Pascaline and I were so excited b/c it was also the annual YMCA “Run for Kids” race. Last year she did the kid’s race. It was a mile long and at the end she was mad b/c she wanted to keep racing. So this year, I signed her up to join me for the 5K adult race. Oh boy!

Let’s just say she was a bit of a yo-yo. One minute she was unsure of the whole thing and then next minute she was rearing to go. We put glitter all over our face and hands and named ourselves the “Glitter Girls”.

Pascaline wanted to line up at the front of the starting line to have a better chance at beating everyone. Can you see us in the middle?

The clock started, and we were off! The first half mile she was doing AWESOME!

But then someone on the sidelines cheered for her number, and she totally went into a tantrum b/c she thought they were making fun of her. People cheering was a totally new experience that overwhelmed her (and you can guess at how many cheered for her b/c of her size ). Every time someone yelled “Go 363!” Oh boy, we were in trouble.

At two miles into it, she wanted to give up. I’m so proud of Pascaline b/c on her own she decided to keep going and finish. At one point she even looked at me and said, “I thought you’d have to catch up with me the whole time mom, but instead you’ve had to slow down for me. I really appreciate you sticking with me.” (totally made me want to cry)

We walked half of the race, but at the end she decided to run again. Her dad was so proud! Brian said he was a little worried when I came home with our registration for a 5K, but then he saw us come around the corner and was so excited!

And Pascaline made it across the finish line at 44:57 minutes!

That’s my girl! A 5K for a 6 year old is a HUGE thing! And with all the meltdowns we went through I wasn’t sure if we’d be doing another one together. But to my surprise, she told me she can’t wait to do the next one with me!

Pascaline’s excited for this post, so if you have a free minute leave her a message!

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To those of you that love our photo recipes and exercises, here they are!

For the shots of Pascaline and I pinning on her number, giving each other high fives, lining up at the start line, Brian had his shutter speed at 320. He kept his aperture at 2.8 and ISO at 100. He shot all these photos with the zoom lense.

But when we were running, Brian needed a fast shutter speed to shoot us in motion with us also being sharp and crisp instead of blurry. So his shutter speed went up to 640, aperture stayed 2.8, and his ISO stayed at 100. The key is the faster shutter speed for motion or action photos, like soccer games or kids riding their bikes. If your shutter speed is to slow, your child will be blurry.

Try experimenting with Shutter Speed!

1. Put your camera in TV mode (this is shutter speed priority where you determine the shutter speed and the camera decides the aperture for you).

2. Have your kids run around in the backyard. (tough one huh! )

3. Take a couple photos at a slow shutter speed (maybe a 1/100). Then speed up your shutter speed to 1/600 and see what happens. Is the shot with the faster shutter speed more crisp than the first?

4. Remember, play around with your settings trying different things all the time. This is the fastest way to get a better understanding of your camera’s shutter speed, aperture and ISO!

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To learn more about me visit About Me Ra.

For information on Me Ra’s popular photography workshops and DVD series for parents, visit DVD series and “Documenting a Child’s Life.”

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