They've watched their dad climb Mount Shasta and come up short twice trying to scale Mount Everest.
They've seen him compete in adventure races, eco challenges and endurance runs that would leave the average person wondering, "Why would you ever want to do that?"
Clearly, there's something in the Crane family gene pool that makes sons John and Chris want to emulate, if not match, the achievements of their adventuresome pop, Adrian.
 "It's tough to live in his shadow," joked Chris, 24. "We never had a feeling that we had to out-do him, though."
That might explain why these Modestans recently spent nearly two months in an oversized rowboat crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Davis High alums, the Crane brothers composed half of a four-person crew competing with 16 other boats in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. The race, one of those "tests of human endurance" things to which the Cranes are inherently drawn, began Dec. 5 in the Canary Islands town of San Sebastian de La Gomera.
They docked at Port St. Charles in Barbados, ending their ultimate row, row, row your boat 56 days and 2,598 nautical miles later, on Jan. 31.
Chris planned all along to row as a member of Team Epoch, which entered a 29-foot-long boat dubbed the Limited Intelligence.
Floridian Sonya Baumstein, who owns an outdoor education company, founded the team with the idea of using the race to market her business. Chris signed on months before to join Baumstein, Oliver Levick of Massachusetts and a fourth rower in the Atlantic crossing race.
John, 27, touring England in December, got a great deal on airfare and decided to fly to the Canaries to watch the crew's departure. He arrived to learn that the team's fourth rower had dropped out.
"I probably should have gone back (to England)," he said.
They drafted him to fill the spot even though his only previous rowing experience was in kayaks.
Chris, at least, had been a member of UCLA's crew in college. But a trans-Atlantic crossing is another animal altogether.
"It's different training to row for six minutes than for 60 days," he said.
The worst weather they faced came right away.
"The first 60 miles took us three days, rowing into the wind and the waves," John Crane said.
They rowed in pairs, with the Crane brothers working together. They rowed in two-hour shifts, trying to eat and sleep during their off time. They took along enough food for 90 days at 6,000 calories for the first 60 days and 4,000 a day for the final month, if needed.
Turned out they didn't need the extra grub, dumping it overboard for fish food over the final days as they neared their destination.
They relied on a GPS device for navigation and a solar battery- powered desalinator to turn the salty seawater into Perrier — "some of the freshest water I've ever tasted," John Crane said.
When the batteries malfunctioned early in the trip, they used a reverse-osmosis hand pump that required 20 minutes to produce two liters.
Just in case, a support ship followed the boats across the pond. A crew from a Norwegian entry needed to be "rescued" by a cruise ship, and they came off the boat in Barbados wearing tuxedoes.
"They were really taken care of," John said.
Along the way, the Cranes and their teamies were accompanied by whales, dolphins and sharks. They also saw two cruise ships, some military ships and some freighters, and relied on their electronic signaling system to make their presence known.
"We had to turn it on to make sure the ships knew we were there," Chris said.
As evening approached Jan. 31, they finally came upon Barbados. Working into strong winds, it took them six more hours to row into the harbor at Port St. Charles. They finished eighth among the 11 boats that completed the crossing, 16 days behind the winner.
"It was absolutely amazing to come into the harbor with the crowd screaming," Chris said. "They had steaks waiting for us. It was the most amazing feeling to see land again."
And to see their dad, proud papa Adrian, awaiting their arrival.
"It was pretty huge," said Adrian, who has some unfinished business on Mount Everest and is planning a third attempt in the spring. "I've always felt my personal Achilles' heel is the ocean. Maybe one of these days, I'll get over my fears. They took on the challenge, and that is huge. Fifty-six days of isolation."
Their adventure put some of his own into perspective, he said.
"You always imagine you know what you're doing and you're in your right mind," he said. "We don't do things we think are going to kill us. But they were out there hundreds of miles from anybody else on the ocean. For my wife and I, it was like 'Saving Private Ryan.' Both of our boys in the same boat."
Would they do this again?
"Not while it's fresh in my mind," John said.
"No," Chris said. "Not right now. Not any time soon. It will be a long time before I go on another ocean-racing row."