What kind of parents are we?

We spent Saturday (in a soaking rain) enjoying a company-sponsored outing at Canobie Lake Park, in Salem New Hampshire. It's a great place--one of the old-time amusement parks with an old rickety wooden roller coaster, a grand Merry-go-Round and lots of fabulous and family-friendly old amusements. We look forward to this day each September, and this year was no exception. We missed our college boy, but enjoyed the fact that our youngest is now big enough to enjoy some of the more adventurous rides with us. As the afternoon wore on, we decided on the Flume. This is a log ride in a fabricated river of water that culminates in a very fast drop from a height-y peak. Mr. Morning climbed in with me for the first ride, and although I remember him gripping me rather seriously on the drop, he seemed to enjoy it, and quickly asked if we could do it again.
One of the fun parts of riding the Flume is that you get your picture taken from a stationary camera at the dropping point, and the kids love to run to the picture booth to look at themselves on the ride. When we saw the little man's expression on the first run, we pledged to come back and consider purchasing it for a keepsake. Have a look:(you may be able to click on the image to make it bigger) The second time through, he decided to ride with dad. He was SO excited to be going again, although his facial expression might convince you otherwise:

I laughed so hard, I cried. Then I wanted to cry for real, because I thought "What kind of parents subject their four-year old son to this kind of terror while the rest of us are whooping with adrenaline and joy?" It's hard not to feel torn. And it's hard not to laugh at the poor little guy. We dropped the axe on the request for a third trip down the river... and after looking at his images long enough, he heartily agreed that two times was enough.