{"id":492,"date":"2015-10-18T01:56:42","date_gmt":"2015-10-18T05:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/?p=492"},"modified":"2015-10-18T01:56:42","modified_gmt":"2015-10-18T05:56:42","slug":"making-lemonade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/paul-wilson\/2015\/10\/18\/making-lemonade\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Lemonade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC07515s\"<\/a>After months of saving and hoarding birthday monies, the Wilson family was ready for their first ever family vacation! After being back in PNG for a little over a year, it was time for a little change (read: enjoy some first-world-culture). So we packed our swimsuits and headed out to Cairns, Australia. We\u2019d been there before but never with a 2 and 3 year old. So our expectations were set pretty low. And boy, are we glad we did that. We had no idea what was in store for us.<\/p>\n

Goat cheese…doesn\u2019t seem that dangerous to most of us. And in the \"DSC07438s\"<\/a>past, Paul has been able to eat it. Not anymore. He broke out over most of his body in a red rash. (Wanna see a picture?) Also at that time the kids got sick and Andrea got strep throat! So with all that going on, we decided to delay our return to PNG to make sure we were all on the mend.<\/p>\n

Paul was finally referred to a dermatologist and it was determined that, yep, \u201cyou have atopic eczema from an allergic reaction.\u201d We have heard those words before. (I guess we were glad to not hear \u201cflesh-eating bacteria or virus.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Our vacation-extension had it\u2019s good and not so good-points. Unfortunately we had to move two more times. (We were staying at a missionary guesthouse and they were booked up for a few days.) And did we mention that Cairns is a tourist town ($$$)? But thankfully the Aussie dollar is weaker than the US, so that was convenient. Plus as we all began to recover, we were then able to do more of the family-vacationing things that we originally wanted to do. In the 25 days we were there, we went to 16 different playgrounds\u2026.and many of those multiple times. Cairns has a ton of free playgrounds and water parks. We also got to see crocodiles, koalas and lots of butterflies. We squeezed in trips to McDonalds for 50 cent cones and meals at a caf\u00e9 that catered exactly to Paul\u2019s diet. (Read: Not fast food). We were also able to enjoy cooking in our rooms\u2026 which saved us a lot of money.<\/p>\n

So now we have our memories, photos and\u2026.oh\u2026.the medical bills to pay off. \ud83d\ude42 Here are a few more good \"DSC07651s\"<\/a>memories to share:<\/p>\n