
The last time my husband left for a long stretch was back in 2016, when he was on a 15-month hardship tour in Central America. This time, he’ll be somewhere in Europe for 9 months. So, I decided to make Deployment Bucket List: Round 2 to help the girls and I stay busy while he’s gone.
**Note: I’m fully aware that a Europe rotation is not technically a deployment, but the ‘European Rotation Bucket List’ is confusing because it sounds like we’re making a list of things to do in Europe. We’ll just use the term ‘deployment’ instead.**
Our last deployment bucket list gave us lots of things to look forward to and helped us to stay positive. I’m hoping that Round 2 will be just as helpful and fun.
We’ll only have 9 months to complete this one, so I’m only adding 75 items to this list.
Also, many of the list items will be repeats from last time, but that just means they’re worth doing again!
Deployment Bucket List: Round 2
make a deployment emergency kitsee some Christmas lights- send Heff 9 care packages
celebrate New Year’s Eve- plant some flowers
spend the day in Austincelebrate Lainey’s 11th birthdaymake a deployment wallcelebrate Valentine’s Day- finally finish the DuoLingo Spanish lesson
- go to the beach
- save money for a vacation fund
- hike the Dana Peak Park trail
- get involved at church
- read 1 classic piece of literature
visit a state park that we’ve never been to- walk 250 miles
make a deployment countdown- watch some fireworks on the 4th of July
find a show to binge-watch- watch Lainey’s dance recital
find a new swimming hole- go geocaching
- do a Bible study
- have a ‘spa night’ at home
- lose 50 pounds
go to the movies- make open-when letters for Heff
visit a town we’ve never been to before- plan a vacation for when Heff comes home
adopt a ‘Christmas angel’- make a welcome home sign
celebrate my 33rd birthdayvisit a museum- get a tan
take a road trip (to somewhere other than Florida)- spend time with Nana
color Easter eggs- do 9 random acts of kindness
find a mural to take a picture with- learn 3 new songs on the piano
take a trip to see Angel- celebrate Lyvi’s 10th birthday
make a gingerbread house- try 9 new recipes
- drop Lainey off at her first day of middle school
- grow blog page views by 20%
do a craft at the Apache arts centerlet the girls have a sleepoverspend the day in Wacotake bluebonnet picturesvisit a cave- do some spring cleaning
organize the kitchentake girls to get their nails donehave a themed movie nightsuccessfully operate the weed-eater- go swimming at the springs
- get my Florida real-estate license
- refurbish mom’s buffet
watch Lainey play softball- send a hand-written letter to Heff
finish a project- make a new wreath
- spend time with Granny
- go on 9 hikes
- cultivate 3 new habits
- take a picture of the world’s largest fire hydrant
- edit & update old blog posts
- organize the hall closets
- plan a welcome home dinner for Heff
see a movie at the Cove Theaterdo a puzzledo an escape room- see a new waterfall
This is a pretty big list to take on in only 9 months, but I think we can do it!
And even if we don’t finish everything on the list, we’re definitely going to have fun trying.
For me, the point of a deployment bucket list is not to finish it, but to have something to work towards and to find joy in ordinary things while he’s gone.



