Good morning all.
Mom, her kitties, and I all made it home safely last night. Yay!!
the kitties were not well-pleased with the trip, and did a great deal of caterwauling...taking them
through TSA was a treat. Turns out they do have to come out of their carriers. TSA took us to a side room where we held the cats while they ran back to x-ray the carriers. No escapes, but it was close for one of them. They did settle for much of the flight and only spoke up intermittently on the drive from Atlanta. Turns out there are many nice cat lovers in the Phoenix and Atlanta airport, and the response to loud angry meows coming from soft-sided carriers was 'Awww- I love cats!"

(no sarcasm, it was nice to have many people be understanding and wishing the cats well on their journey)
they have already forgiven mom (and even me) for putting them
through travel torments... they may be less pleased when the beasties come home from boarding tomorrow