The Ultimate Deployment Bucket List: Round 2

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

1. make a deployment emergency kit
2. see some Christmas lights
3. send Heff care packages
4. celebrate New Year’s Eve
5. plant some flowers
6. spend the day in Austin
7. celebrate Lainey’s 11th birthday
8. make a deployment wall
9. celebrate Valentine’s Day
10. finally finish the DuoLingo Spanish lesson
11. go to the beach
12. save money for a vacation fund
13. hike the Dana Peak Park trail
14. get involved at church
15. read 1 classic piece of literature
16. visit a state park that we’ve never been to
17. walk 250 miles
18. make a deployment countdown
19. watch some fireworks on the 4th of July
20. find a show to binge-watch
21. watch Lainey’s dance recital
22. find a new swimming hole
23. go geocaching
24. do a Bible study
25. have a ‘spa night’ at home
26. lose 50 pounds
27. go to the movies
28. make open-when letters for Heff
29. visit a town we’ve never been to before
30. plan a vacation for when Heff comes home
31. adopt a ‘Christmas angel’
32. make a welcome home sign
33. celebrate my 33rd birthday
34. visit a museum
35. get a tan
36. take a road trip (to somewhere other than Florida)
37. spend time with Nana
38. color Easter eggs
39. do 9 random acts of kindness
40. find a mural to take a picture with
41. learn 3 new songs on the piano
42. take a trip to see Angel
43. celebrate Lyvi’s 10th birthday
44. make a gingerbread house
45. try 9 new recipes
46. drop Lainey off at her first day of middle school
47. grow blog page views by 20%
48. do a craft at the Apache arts center
49. let the girls have a sleepover
50. spend the day in Waco
51. take bluebonnet pictures
52. visit a cave
53. do some spring cleaning
54. organize the kitchen
55. take girls to get their nails done
56. have a themed movie night
57. successfully operate the weed-eater
58. go swimming at the springs
59. get my Florida real-estate license
60. refurbish mom’s buffet
61. watch Lainey play softball
62. send a hand-written letter to Heff
63. finish a project
64. make a new wreath
65. spend time with Granny
66. go on 9 hikes
67. cultivate 3 new habits
68. take a picture of the world’s largest fire hydrant
69. edit & update old blog posts
70. organize the hall closets
71. plan a welcome home dinner for Heff
72. see a movie at the Cove Theater
73. do a puzzle
74. do an escape room
75. 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.