My Playdate with Ju Song's Family

October 4, 2026

My dad and I decided to visit one of his high school classmates, Ju Song. First, we had to get to his house.

The Journey

At about 9:44 a.m., my dad said it was time to leave for Ju Song's house, so I changed into my clothes and headed down to our family car. It was a red BMW X3 that was somewhat outdated.

After we got onto I-10, we began the long trip to his house. At first, while we were still around the Houston 610 area, there was no HOV lane. We passed the Sam Houston Tollway and then Texas 6. After passing Texas 6, the toll road ended, and we could finally get into the HOV lane.

I asked my dad if we were still in Houston. He said no, but he said we were still part of the Greater Houston area. We then turned onto US-99. After driving for a while, we continued down the highway. Our destination was getting close! A few minutes later, we finally arrived at his house. The more-than-30-minute journey had been long and boring.

Arrival

When we arrived, Ju Song's family greeted us. We went into the living room to see what the kids were watching, and we also brought some fruit with us.

I asked where the LEGO bricks were, and Dad said they were on the second floor. One of the kids led me to them. I started playing right away, but at first there wasn't much to do because I thought I couldn't take the boats apart. When one of the kids said I could take the other boats apart, I realized it was fine. I started building a battleship.

The LEGO Build

At first, I worked on the battleship's hydrodynamics. I put the three base plates together and started mapping out the layout of the hull.

Toward the middle of the ship, I decided to make some areas only one brick thick. I opened a chamber and covered it with plates, forming two watertight compartments in case the ship was ever put in the water.

Then, as I worked on the plates, I found a cube that contained living spaces. After taking it apart, I found some plates and two cabinets with food items inside.

Playtime

I left my battleship on the second floor and went down to the first floor. I found that the kids were playing Mario Kart Deluxe. Maxwell, one of the kids, showed me how to use the Nintendo controller. At home, I don't use controllers.

Soon, Maxwell left, and I started playing with Dad. We weren't very good, sometimes finishing in fourth or fifth place. One time, we were in the back, in twelfth and eleventh place!

Dad left to rest, and I started playing on my own. I used VS mode, so I got to create my own rules. There were teams, and the computer players could use only bikes. In that race, I did really well, but my team, the Red team, kept losing because its computer players weren't as good as the Blue team's.

Rollerblading

After I finished playing, it was time to rollerblade. My dad had brought rollerblades for me, but they were too small. Ju Song's family had one pair that was already too small for everyone, so I used that pair.

At first, I was a bit unstable, but because I used to rollerblade, I regained my balance. Then I practiced going down a hill. When I first tried going the full length, I fell on my bottom, so I went back to smaller heights. Eventually, I practiced enough to slide down from the top.

I did it once, but the next time my center of balance was too far back, so I fell backward. Ju Song's family also had a dog that needed walking, so we decided to walk it while rollerblading.

At first, the dog pulled us, but then it got tired, and we started pulling the dog. The route was also pretty long, at least half a mile.

After I said I was thirsty, my dad jokingly said that we had somehow opened a crack in a fire hydrant. When I said the water pressure was too high, he said we could go farther away so the water would lose speed before we drank it. I said it wasn't purified water. Dad didn't reply.

Lunch

After all that rollerblading and exercise, we settled in for lunch.

The lunch was basically fried rice with ribeye steak, zucchini, carrots, and other vegetables and meats. There was also fruit, including cantaloupe and blueberries.

Some of us drank Coca-Cola, while others drank Squirt, which was brought out after I asked for Sprite or 7-Up.

3D Printing

Since Ju Song's house also had 3D printers, I decided that I wanted the Minecraft logo paired with a 3D grass block. However, there wasn't one, so I decided to get the Minecraft logo and the grass block and then put them together.

The first grass block required too many colors and took 16 hours to print, so we settled on a smaller, two-colored grass-block clicker. There were two printers, so while one printed the bottom of the clicker, the other printed the top. Then we put the clicker together.

The Minecraft logo was much bigger than the clicker. The "M" in the Minecraft logo was about the same size as the clicker itself.

More LEGO

I returned to my battleship build, this time finishing half of the bottom, but I still had more to do. I needed a lot of plates, so I took apart some other builds to get them. Still, I couldn't acquire enough plates.

On top of the ship, I started working on the turrets:

1. The first one was a small stud launcher mounted at the front.
2. The second one was a two-barrel elemental gun that shot water and fire.
3. The third main gun was mounted on a rotating 6x6 base. Since the small support couldn't handle the 6x6 base, I added tiles around it to help it withstand the weight.

Leaving

After all of this fun, we decided to leave for home. The trip back took even longer because there was a storm that lasted all the way from the Sam Houston Tollway to where I was.

The trip would usually take around 10 to 15 minutes, but this time it took around 20 minutes because of the rain.

Conclusion

This was a really cool visit. I should have photographed my battleship!