Our 2020

Thriving through a global pandemic

By Victoria & Michael Chou

December 13^th, 2020

Our Holiday Family Photos

This was the first year that we had family photos taken! We were very pleased by how the photos turned out and thankful to have these photos to commemorate the growth of our family. Overall, we are very blessed that all 3 boys are healthy and we've certainly enjoyed spending time together as a family during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Some highlights from our 2020

Chinese New Year 2020

In January, we brought Adrian back to Taiwan to celebrate Chinese New Year with Victoria's family. Adrian loves his Grandparents and got to spend some quality time with the whole Liang family including his Great-grandparents. In the middle of the year, Adrian's Great-grandmother passed away; this made us even more thankful that we were able to spend time with the Victoria's family before the pandemic hit.

Chewie's Year

Chewie had a great year! The year started with him being celebrated by employees at Parsable. Michael working from home the rest of the year has allowed Chewie to spend more time with Michael. He's been tremendously understanding of the children and enjoys being around them. Also Michael's Aunt Mary has taken amazing care of Chewie as well.

Adrian's Year

Adrian turned three this year and continues to be the bright-eyed, generous, brave, and understanding boy we've always wanted. From left-to-right, these photos captured Adrian's year.

Adrian had his first school photos taken in February.
Adrian loved his elephant costume and participated in his first Purim Parade at the the Jewish preschool we send him to.
During the early days of the pandemic we kept Adrian busy by taking him for daily walks and searched for stuff-bears in the neighborhood.
We celebrated Adrian's 3rd birthday in July at home just with family.
Adrian looking very stylish with his Disney face mask.
Halloween was at home this year with Adrian choosing to be a ghost!
Adrian loves flying around the home as a superhero.

Avery's First Year!

This bundle of joy joined us in May of this year. Everybody who meets Avery marvels at how smiley of a baby he is (he literally smiles at anybody and everybody). As we exit 2020, Avery has shown an increased interest in interacting with Adrian and Chewie, and loves chewing on kitchen utensils while causing havoc in his baby walker.

Michael joined Okta in July

Michael started the year at a startup company called Parsable, but changed jobs halfway through the year to Okta after unfortunate changes due to the pandemic. He's leading an effort for a new product area for Okta to help customers secure access to their most privileged resources. He's very thankful and proud to be working at an iconic company with a great team.

California Wildfires

One of the more impactful events that happened this year was the California wildfires that again made it impossible to go outside.

The last 10 years shattered records in California for wildfires, and 2020 topped them all.

Added to the social distancing required by the pandemic, we recall these weeks / months being very impactful to our physical and mental health. It definitely has made us think about the future direction of California and the environment.

Michael took this photo at around 2pm without any camera filters. It felt like we lived on Mars.

The 2020 Election

We were tremendously thankful for the results of the Presidential Election this year.

5 Years in Burlingame

In November of this year, we hit our 5-year anniversary of living in our home in Burlingame! We felt very thankful to be living in a great home while the pandemic has been raging around us. Our home can best be described as a Japanese craftsman home built by an eccentric environmentalist.