Because our daughter Alissa Crandall and family live in South Dakota we don’t get to see them as often as we would like.  So we decided to take a short trip to visit over Mother’s Day week-end.  Alissa’s birthday was the next day (May 14), so there were two special days together.  We enjoyed our visit, but the travels were a little crazy.

We flew on May 11th from Orange County’s John Wayne Airport to Denver, but couldn’t land because of strong winds.  So we backtracked to Colorado Springs, refueled the jet, and returned to Denver – missing our connecting flight to Sioux Falls as a result of the delay.  So we spent a night in Denver, then cancelled our rescheduled flight on May 12th for a slightly earlier one on another airline – arriving in Sioux Falls late in the afternoon.

Our rental car was a brand new Hyundai Elantra (nice car) with just over 500 miles on the odometer.  But around 20 miles out of Sioux Falls the left front tire exploded – really!

Towed back to Sioux Falls, we started over in a new Toyota Corolla – arriving in Huron just in time to say good night to our four grandsons and eat a delicious warmed-up salmon dinner Alissa had prepared to welcome us to Huron.

Three of Andrew and Alissa’s four boys (L to R – Silas, Elijah, and Levi) were on kitchen duty on Mother’s Day – emptying the dishwasher to make room for another load after Sunday morning breakfast.

During morning worship at Huron’s First Presbyterian Church Pastor Andrew delivered his weekly children’s sermon – along with an excellent message on Christ’s ascension.

Grandma Jan enjoyed the opportunity to do some reading with the three older boys.

She also had fun playing with some light-weight flying disks in the Crandalls’ front yard.

The older boys (Levi and Elijah) spend many happy hours creating things, often with careful discussion and deliberation, with their many Legos.

A park just a block away from the Crandalls’ house is a fun place to get some exercise.

And bikes (Levi and Elijah), trikes (Silas) and a one-man car (Ephraim) are good for exercise on the sidewalks and driveways in the Crandalls’ nice neighborhood.

An unexpected surprise of the trip involved the opportunity to attend Elijah’s pre-kindergarten graduation at the James Valley Christian School he and Levi attend.

Tuesday’s return trip to Southern California came quickly – but the adventure was not over.  Our flight from Sioux Falls to Phoenix went smoothly, but our connecting flight to Orange County was delayed an hour and a half.  When we finally got there, our son Stephen picked us up and took us to our car (11:30 p.m.) and we headed for home on the 55 Freeway – coming to a stand-still on the freeway in just a few minutes because of an accident in the left lanes.  So we arrived home in the early hours of Wednesday, May 16th – happy to have had a nice visit with family, even if the travel was a little crazy.

It has been quite a while since our last blog, but not because there has been nothing to say or no pictures to share.  A lady in the Life Group we host in our home each Tuesday evening said this of retirement:  “Retirement is when you get up in the morning with absolutely nothing you have to do, and come to the end of the day only half done.”

We enjoyed an extended family gathering at our house in April to celebrate the birthdays of both Ryan and Erin – Stephen and Meagan’s two children.  Ryan has turned four years old, and Erin is now one.  Stephen and Meagan decided it might work to celebrate both birthdays together this year because the kids are both too young to care about separate birthday parties.  That is likely to change before very long!

Our celebration included Stephen’s family, Meagan’s parents (Dr. Bruce and Connie Seymour), and the family of Meagan’s sister (Chip and Heidi Clampitt, Zerlinda, Amos and Benjamin).

Erin clearly enjoyed the catered Mexican meal which Stephen and Meagan provided.

Ryan probably took a greater interest in breaking the pinata which was part of the party.

Moving inside as darkness closed in, it was time to open birthday gifts – and there were plenty of birthday gifts to be opened!

With two birthdays to celebrate, there were two birthday “cakes” to enjoy – a chocolate brownie cake for Ryan and a pretty pink cake for Erin.

Erin clearly enjoyed “digging in” as she sampled her first birthday cake!

We are enjoying the opportunity to be close enough to Stephen and Meagan’s family to be able to take in the celebrations of the grandchildren’s birthdays – and to have other extended family members close enough to join in on the celebrations.

For each of the past several years Dave and Jan (sometimes with Caroleen Suzuki, college student guest at the Balsley home) have made year-end trips to the Monterey Bay area for family visits.  The new 2017 year got off to a busy enough start that there was no blog entry about the end-of-year 2016 visit, but it was a very pleasant visit as always.  The Monterey area is always is almost always a pleasant place to visit just because of its physical beauty.

A drive north to the San Jose area provided the opportunity to connect with Jan’s cousin Linda Rollo and her husband David in their new setting in a retirement community in the hills east of San Jose.  We look back to 2016 because Dr. Rollo and Linda were in Florida during Dave and Jan’s 2017 Christmas trip to the central California area.  The view from the Rollos’ back deck reveals the nice surroundings in their new setting.

And a meal together in the community club house restaurant was a pleasant experience – as visits with the Rollos always are!

Dave and Jan’s 2017 visit to the Monterey area provided numerous nice opportunities to connect with family – like the walk along the beach at Seaside with Dave’s sisters Jan and Jewel and Jewel’s husband Rick.

We all enjoyed lunch together after the beach hike at Seaside’s Googie Grill, a restaurant we have enjoyed several times now during visits to the area.

We also enjoyed family meals at the Black Bear Diner, just across the line from Seaside in Monterey (where only sister Jan took a good picture which she posted on Facebook), and at sister Susie and Horace’s house – where Dave grew up and where nephew Jared, his wife Joy, and son Daniel live as well.

Another family visit along the way for Dave and Jan was a lunch visit in Santa Barbara where Jan’s aunt Edna lives in a nice retirement community.

Whether he said it first or not, Dr. James Dobson (of Focus on the Family fame) said something to the effect that “no one ever says, as they are approaching the end of their life, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.'”  What a blessing it is to be able to spend time with family members we love!

Dreaming of a white Christmas is never very productive in the city of Brea.  We dream instead of a nice Christmas, and – given the reason for the celebration, the incarnation of the Lord Jesus almost two thousand years ago – it is pretty easy to have a nice Christmas in Brea.  The city’s crews always get in on the celebration with some seasonal decorations.

The week before Christmas the city of Brea opened a nice present for city pedestrians and cyclists with the addition of another portion of the Tracks at Brea Recreation Trail – the portion nearest the city’s downtown area.

Of course, there are always Christmas decorations around our house during the Christmas season.

And Christmas dinner is an important part of the traditional celebration at the Balsley home – a dinner which was enjoyed this year by Stephen, Meagan, Ryan and (for the first time) Erin, along with Dave and Jan and Caroleen.

Our family is grateful this year not only for the birth of Jesus so many centuries ago, but also for the arrival of Erin Laurel on April 21st of 2017.

Christmas in Brea has been a happy experience once again for our family – all because of the event which got the celebration going long ago, the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He has enriched our lives in more ways than we can begin to count and, because He came to birth on earth as He did in order to accomplish the significant saving work He accomplished a little over thirty years later by His death and resurrection, He always will!

When they are not doing other things (and there are quite a few other things to do), Grandmas care for and play with their grandchildren!  And “Gramma Jan” has opportunities to do what Grandmas do fairly often with two of her six grandchildren – Stephen and Meagan’s son Ryan and daughter Erin – living not too far away.

Erin, at six months, is learning all kinds of new “tricks” – like push-ups.

And perhaps she is already apparently into pondering some deep thoughts.

Is she off to an early start with concern over the appearance of her hair?

It appears that she may already be giving some thought to carving her first pumpkin.

Ryan enjoys being outdoors – and helping Grandma with the yard-work.

And he enjoyed tossing glow rings over pumpkin stems in the back of our car at our church’s Fall Fun Extravaganza – among the other fun activities.

Grandma Jan is having a good time doing what Grandmas do!

And Grandpa Dave is in on the fun as well because – in addition to the crowns on some of his teeth – Proverbs 17:6 says that “Grandchildren are the crown of old men”!

Because they knew their drive to and from South Dakota and Wyoming would be a long drive, Dave and Jan made it their aim to stop along the way for some breaks in their summer travels in July (2017). Thinking that they had five days to arrive in South Dakota, and calculating that four days would be enough, they planned a stop for two nights of camping and a day of exploring in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. Driving north on California’s Highway 395 they arrived in the Twin Lakes area just west of Bridgeport, California.

The drive toward Twin Lakes from Bridgeport already presented some tantalizing views of the rugged terrain.

Dave and Jan found the view of nearby mountains from the Forest Service Crags Campground where they set up camp also very appealing.

The campground was shared with others who live there on a more permanent basis.

Tuesday’s hike toward the Matterhorn followed the route of beautiful Horsetail Creek.

The stream came crashing down the mountainside with a pretty impressive roar.

Though they were not overly abundant, there were very nice wildflowers to enjoy.

There were some very peaceful water scenes in the saddle area above the first climbs.

Farther along the trail the Matterhorn began to come into view on the horizon.

We are told it is possible to climb to the top, but that will have to wait for another day!

The Twin Lakes region clearly deserves more exploration, but it was a refreshing stop “along the way.”  Dave and Jan never cease to enjoy the expansive beauty of the Sierras and the many other displays of God’s creative genius in the world around us!

You have probably sung (or at least heard sung) the song “Home on the Range.”  But have you ever wondered where it is that the buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play?  Dave and Jan have enjoyed seeing them all in the states of South Dakota and Wyoming.  On their recent vacation trip they enjoyed seeing some of each – along with other animals not named in the song “Home on the Range.”  Driving south of the Tetons they saw some impressive specimens of Buffalo.

One of the things Dave and Jan enjoy doing is seeing wildlife during their camping and hiking experiences.  This year was particularly interesting in that respect during the time they spent with Andrew and Alissa and family at the cabin in Wyoming’s Big Horn National Forest.  Deer sightings were a frequent experience without leaving the cabin.  Dave watched this young doe foraging in the field directly in front of the cabin.

Just a short drive along the main road to the cabin there were many animals to be seen.

We even got a good look at Bambi – or one of his close relatives anyhow.

Also in the area there were antelope for the deer to play with.

There were herds of elk grazing on the hillsides during our evening drives.

And the family especially enjoyed seeing the moose grazing along the stream.

True to the song, as we enjoyed our temporary “home on the range,” seldom was heard a discouraging word.  It was a special treat to see so many of our animal neighbors while we were enjoying time with our “kids” and our grandchildren.

The main purpose of Dave and Jan’s recent vacation trip to South Dakota and other locations far from home in Brea was to spend time with their family – specifically son-in-law Dr. Andrew Crandall (congratulations on the doctorate!), daughter Alissa, and four grandsons who live in South Dakota (far from Brea).  It had been a year since they were last together, shortly after the birth of Ephraim, so there had been some significant growth.  Ephraim, for example, is no longer a little baby!

It was fun once again to see these dear youngsters have fun at play – and even pose for a picture (left to right:  Ephraim – one; Silas – two; Levi – six; and Elijah – four).

Levi was always eager for another ride on the ATVs at the Wyoming cabin.

Among many things to do at Rimrock Camp there were scooter boards – like the one Elijah was enjoying when this picture was taken.

Elijah also got in on some playing by father Andrew – on his small guitar.

And “Annie Oakley” (aka Alissa) got in on the fun with the cabin’s BB gun!

Elijah, Levi and Silas enjoyed playing with art supplies as they created their own personalized bookmarks with Grandma Jan.

And Levi and Elijah also enjoyed some spelunking with Grandma Jan.

The trip was very enjoyable as a time of family fun.  Dave and Jan look forward to the next time they can connect across the miles with their “dear” South Dakota family.

After Dave and Jan enjoyed a reunion with Andrew, Alissa and their four sons (Levi, Elijah, Silas and Ephraim) at the family camp held in the Black Hills just west of Rapid City, South Dakota (Rimrock Camp), the family drove on west to spend a few more days together at a “cabin” in Wyoming’s Big Horn National Forest.  Andrew routed us through scenic Black Hills forest roads by way of Roughlock Falls in a beautiful forested canyon in South Dakota.

Alissa had connected with the Shaffer family who own the “cabin” to which we were headed, making it available for the enjoyment of ministry families.  Leaving highway 16 we drove south around six or eight miles on a paved road, another half to three-quarters of a mile on a dirt road, then left around a mile on a smaller dirt road, then left again through a gate in the barbed wire fence and another half mile or so on a rutted dirt road to the “cabin.”  What a pleasant surprise!

Though it was in a remote location (electricity provided by a gas-powered generator, and water from a well), the “cabin” was anything but primitive.  It was clearly constructed by master-builders, with beautiful furnishings and fixtures and decorations.

There was lots of time for relaxation and recreation and exploration of the 84 acres which belong to the Shaffers.

We enjoyed day trips to nearby points of interest – like the James T. Saban fire lookout . . .

. . . and Sheep Mountain . . .

. . . and Crazy Woman Creek . . .

. . . and there was more!  Much more!!  But, as you can probably tell, it was a beautiful week with the family.

Many thanks to Alissa and family for making the arrangements and sharing their time with us, to the Shaffers for sharing their amazing “cabin” and all of its amenities with us, and to the Lord for creating such beautiful places for our enjoyment and our discovery of more of His greatness in the Big Horn National Forest of Wyoming!

Not having seen Andrew and Alissa’s family in South Dakota since the birth of Ephraim in June of 2016, Dave and Jan looked forward to a “family reunion” with the Crandalls in mid-July, beginning in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  After several days on the road, camping along the way in their tent-trailer, the family got together at a “family camp” at Camp Rimrock just west of Rapid City.  Left to right – Silas with Alissa; Elijah; Andrew with Ephraim; Levi; Dave and Jan.

Family camp included morning vesper service activities for those attending.  Son-in-law Pastor Andrew shared a lesson directed specifically at the children attending at one of the camp’s fireside settings.

Meals were prepared by an excellent chef in the camp kitchen and served either in the dining room or at picnic tables outdoors in front of the lodge.

Afternoons included a quiet hour following lunch, then free time for families to enjoy the camp grounds – including tubing on the beautiful stream which flows through the campground.

Even baby Ephraim enjoyed the water – in a kiddie pool someone brought to camp for the little ones.

There were some fun family games to play during the cooler morning hours on a forested hillside.  Andrew and Alissa worked at getting their family balanced on a small wooden platform placed on top of a log.

“Grandma Jan” joined the Crandalls in a time of close family fellowship on a much smaller wooden platform!

Elijah and Levi demonstrated their skill at hanging spoons on their noses during an evening “talent night.”

Dave and Jan pitched their tent-trailer next door to the Crandalls’ cabin for overnight accommodations.

Family camp was a fun time of family togetherness at Camp Rimrock – a camp which has served the needs of our family on several occasions now in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota.  And the fun wasn’t over with the end of camp – because Alissa arranged for further family fun in an amazing “cabin” in the Big Horn National Forest of Wyoming.  So stay tuned for more . . .