Rain and Sting Rays

This past Thursday kicked off tsuyu, or rainy season. It's supposed to last for about a month, mostly during June. It's been raining almost non-stop since Thursday morning. 

It's been somewhat of a challenge, since life must go on. There are still groceries to be bought, which must be done on foot or bicycle, lessons to go to, laundry that needs to air dried, and you have to get out and have some fun every now and again. But we're making it, and we're definitely thankful for the cooler temperatures that have come along with it.

While the clouds haven't cleared off, we finally got a break in the rain this afternoon, so we took advantageous of it and got out of the house for a little bit. There is a river that runs along our building, and empties into Tokyo Bay, and we had noticed some dark things swimming around in the water we suspected were sting rays. We hurriedly changed and got out the door and down to the water. Sure enough - sting rays!! We had gone to a local aquarium about a month ago, and got a chance to touch sting rays, but I think it was even cooler to see them in the wild.

This is one of the bigger guys. 

We also saw tons of tiny crabs, barnacles, and little fish - even tiny flounders! Who knew we had an aquarium literally right outside our door?! My inner marine biologist was geeking out!!!

I caught a tiny crab for Finn, but he was way more interested in running up and down the bank and stepping in the puddles :) 

I often see people out digging for clams when the tide is low, and now I'm very eager to go down to the river and check out what all there is to see when the water is low. Just another reason I love where we live!