Aunt's 90th

The last weekend in June, all the Carters from all the land made the trek to Macungie, Pennsylvania to celebrate our great-aunt Phyllis' 90th birthday.  Known as 'Aunt' to all, my cousin Christy nailed it when she described her as a "bonus third grandma."  Aunt Phyllis still lives in the house she was born in in Tamaqua, PA, and, since she is ninety years old, we wanted her party to be close to where she lives for her convenience.  So the rest of us drove or flew in from Nebraska, Texas, Indiana, Arkansas, Georgia, and Kentucky.  Aunt was a chemist for Atlas Powder Co., so the theme of the party was Elements of Aunt.

[UPDATE:  I feel like I sold Aunt short by writing she still lives in the house in which she was born when that's not really at all true.  She moved back into her parents' house after her widowed mother (my Great-Grammy) needed care as she got older.  She had graduated from Albright College, lived in a house she owned in West Chester, and had a successful career (including being the president of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists) before taking an early retirement for Grammy.  Here's a link to one of the patents she holds for making ice cream treats better. (important stuff, y'all!)  I don't know if it would be appropriate to say she was a pioneer in her field, but she definitely fought the early fight of equality for women in the workforce.  At her first job, they tried to get her to make the coffee!  She had to assert herself and her skills when she was not welcome, just because she was female.  Another update - just did some Googling: she won the SCC's Merit Award in 1973, and the Masion G. de Navarre Medal Award, the society's highest honor, in 1981.]

Aunt's eight great-grandnieces and nephews.

We stayed at Bear Creek Mountain Resort and had a great time using the facilities, especially the pool.

 

 

Ellie clearly learns by example, as after a day or two of watching Cloudy and Ben swim in the pool, she was able to swim all by herself!!  Such a proud and exciting moment for us.

Saturday evening we had a casual dinner - where we wore the required birthday tees and had the birthday cake.  Jenni found an awesome baker who made this amazing chemistry cake with edible paper printed with a periodic table, atoms, a beaker, etc.

The birthday girl with her niece, Aunt Nancy, and nephew, my dad.

The whole crowd -minus Jenni, our unofficial photographer.

Aunt!

Please ignore my crazy eyes and look at that cute baby!

Don't take me from my mommy!!

All the kiddos love [fast] Uncle Pete!

Sunday was the nice party - with roasts and toasts - and pictures with Aunt!

 

Clouds - in his custom-made (and monogrammed!) bow tie.  Jenni is a talented super-mom.

Hey look at that - I have siblings!  Sorry for the wonky light, we always forget to take pictures until late in the day.

It was so great to see everyone and catch up, even for a day or two.  We are so lucky to have Aunt in our lives.  She's smart, witty, and never misses a trick!