Labor Day is one of the holidays I usually find labor, i.e. work, to do…or work finds me.  This year has been all about regaining balance.  Work can inevitably push out all that is truly important if you allow it to do so.  So while years past have seen me work through the holidays, this is not one of those years.  This is one of those weekends that seem meant to be spent at the beach.  The last big swim in the ocean before the water cools down.  The last Saturday that doesn’t have hockey games, soccer games, and of course, weddings scheduled.  Warm sun, cool wind, warm water…perfect!Each of my children (and husband) got busy doing their own favorite beach activities.  Kevin and Nathaniel surfed.  Gracie built sandcastles. Nicolas collected shells.

The waves were pretty choppy given Hurricane Earl had passed through a few days earlier.

My “good” equipment was at home for safe keeping, so these images aren’t what they could be or should be.  I’ve learned that any image of the fam is better than none, though.

Shell hunting went very well today.  The beach was littered with all sorts of beauties.  But I also noticed that the landscape of the beach was vastly different from last week.  The storm did lots of remodeling.

This was the first little starfish they found.  We walked a bit further and found the whole stretch of beach covered in dead starfish (sea stars) of all sizes.  This is the first time any of us had seen something like this on Folly Beach.

This little rareity was a six-legged star!

You should know that photographer’s children are by and large underwhelmed with having their portraits taken.  Mine would much rather be the ones taking the pictures.  So I only ask on rare occasions for the children to “pose” for the camera.  They certainly look like posers, don’t they!

Beautiful but haunting were the ghosts of sea stars taken by earlier beachwalkers this morning.  It was a wonderful start to a fun family day.  If I spent more time on the photos, I could have added some blue sky and clouds,  shown off the gazillion butterflies in attendance….but then I am bordering on “laboring” again and it’s time to go play some more!