See above...

I will be heading out soon....just trying to think of something nice to do for them.

Bahamas cruise and power of attorney.

Got wife pregnant and bought her a suburban.

Kids in the back seat cause accidents.
Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

Coincidence?

Go to a florist and set up recurring floral arraignments every month.

Great way to keep the wife happy and make you look awesome even away from home.

My girlfriend flew in one weekend, my parents flew out the next. That was one of the first times they had been on a big post, so I drove them around and showed them bragg. We went out for food, they took me shopping for some last minute stuff, then they flew home. I almost would have rather they didn't come out, because it's kind of a mindfuck, but it's one of those things you have to do.

I would also probably shoot down the idea of them coming to see you land when you get home. You'll have an opportunity to get leave soon after. The flights could very easily get fucked up and postponed, so unless they are local, they might be hanging out in a hotel room for a few days waiting for your phone call. It's kind of nice to have a couple days to chill out anyway. I remember I went immediately to the shoppette, bought a bottle of jameson, a log of non-past-expired copenhagen, two large pizzas, and didn't leave my room until our first formation. It was nice to be home.

a few good ideas--prob will do the flower thing, or similar

cant really vacation as   I leave soon

I spent a lot of time getting everything ready for my wife to be alone for almost a year,
But other than that I just tried to keep the whole family busy, as long as you have something to do and to focus on, it's hard to be depressed and sad that you'll be gone for so long.

I did this the first time I was gone; my wife hated it... she said it didn't feel like they were really from me and only reminded how far away I was...

The 2nd time I only did it once (for our anniversary) and she was super happy about it.

What I learned is that, for my particular female mate (yours may be different), she didn't like the idea of a recurring gift of flowers because it took the spontaneity out of it and put it into somebody else's hands (even though I had the fore-sight to set it up before I left), and that took away from it in her opinion. OTOH, the fact that I had thought about our anniversary far enough in advance to schedule a flower delivery to her place of work was amazing to her...

I can't make sense of women... just don't be surprised if she doesn't like something that you thought would be awesome, no matter how proud of yourself you are for thinking that far in advance, it may just be one of those things that doesn't go as you planned.

That being said, vacation before or after. I've done that with every deployment (took a little bit of the extra money from each trip and done some form of vacation). 1 of them was a mission trip with church, but it was still like a vacation to both of us because it was right after I returned.

well, if she gets pregnant, its insta-divorce as I am fixed...

The wife and I went to NOLA and got tore up and partied for a week. That was 6 years ago and we're still going strong.

Went on a Caribbean cruise and shipped her off to stay with family.

1.got my usaa credit card and paid all the recurring bills for 7-10 months. ( They advertise a low interest rate for deployments.)
(was supposed to be a 5-6 month deployment this time)-I am in the Guard -I live in Texas but am in the Iowa National Guard- and was deploying as an augmentee for the Massachusetts Guard, but they were delayed at Mob Station before I went to  deploy, and I went about a month before they got there so I replaced my counter part a month earlier than planned(he was in the South Dakota Guard)
So I knew my admin/pay stuff was going to get screwed up, I had planned for the pay to be jacked up for 4-5 months and was surprised that I only had to go to finance a few times over the first month to sort shit out.

I also had about 2 years notice that I was going to go again(I deployed in 2003-2004 and was a State Department WPPS contractor for 2004-2006. My Brigade was stood up, but when it was about a year out they changed the requirements for my Specialty to deploy for 6 months instead of the whole duration, we actually had most of the previous non-deployers sign up for the whole tour. So I called the lady in charge of the rotations and found a cake job for about the same time as my BDE was going and on the same base.

As a preface she has 2 jobs, works for the state(retires in one year and has a private practice), and I go to work earlier than her and get home 2-3 hours before she does. I enjoy cooking and I can do it fairly well. We live in the boonies, so when I shop it is in bulk as not to have to take an hour to go to the shity little grocery store 10 miles away and pay double what I would, or 20 miles One way to the little bigger town for a real grocery store for a single jar of spaghetti  sauce.  I handle all the money- her paycheck goes into "our account" and all the bills get paid from there. When she wants cash I give her $400 or so and she wont say anything until she needs more.

I gave her $5000 in cash and also had bought 2 months of all monthly bills in US Postal Money orders prefilled out and addressed to the payee.

I made addressed envelopes and bought 75 bucks worth of stamps
I had 20 pre signed checks in her safe for emergencies

Prepaid the bills
paid the propane people
paid the house taxes(house is paid for) prepaid the lake dues(private lake)
paid her car payments (set up recurring payments and ensured they were pre funded) My car was paid for.
Prepaid the Car and house insurance.
Paid the Trash company, water company, electric company, the electric aerobic inspections company for the year

Got about 30 12 packs of Coke Zero pre staged at the house and about 45 4 packs of her favorite adkins protein drinks and 200 of her favorite energy shots-she does a adkins protein shake and a Coke Zero and a energy shot each morning.
Got her aunt (elderly retired nurse  that lives up the road that set me up with the SO-her niece) $750 worth of Grocery Store -Brookshires and Krogers gift cards to ensure she made the SO something to eat for dinner every day.  
---When I met the SO she had a couple of Pina Coloda 4 pks, mustard, ketchup, cheddar cheese and eggs in the fridge and some broccoli and cheese frozen packages and a few weight watcher meals(she takes them to work for lunch)  and a bunch of microwave popcorn(her normal dinner)
Shortly after I moved in I did all the grocery shopping and all the cooking. She does the Thanksgiving meals Christmas and Easter meals and cooks when my Parents come down for their once or twice a year visits.

Coordinated with her best female friend from High School(and prepaid for both with points from the cruise credit card) for a girls cruise half way through my deployment.

Contacted the local redneck engineer that has fixed lots of  stuff for us in the past-(retired guy that still has family members that do plumbing and electric and dabble in general contracting) gave him $200 and explained that I was going to be gone and that the SO may need emergency help.

Got her a power of attorney for the bank and my(our) account that I pay bills out of.  Showed her how to pay the bills, where the combos were

I did the flowers thing as well, I also had 20 small Moose figurines (she loves Moose's) gift wrapped and delivered on a schedule by the Aunt that lives up the road.

bought her a new car.

Nothing really.

Tap, Rack, Bang...and PoA...

lol--

almost done now...now the "what do i do for her when i get back"

she has been doing a heck of a job at home with everything/kids

I am taking her to Milwaukee for a Brewers game and heading up to a Packers came on a long weekend--just to get her away from 24/7 with  the kids.
I did offer a bunch of options and she wanted to do this.

Spent as much time as I could with her and the kids before I left and I am planning on spending a bunch when I get back before going back to work.   I bought a boat a couple days before leaving, just happened on to a good deal, so we will trying that out when I get back.

KINDA eyballing a new hot-tub.  had one before we put on the addition, kinda wouldlike one again.

Ditto. Spent some extra time with the kids and wife going hiking and just hanging out. Never seems like enough though. Wife is mil as well and self sufficient enough that either one of us could push out the door and the other would pick up the slack. Comforting to know. Also planning a vacation to some property we own in Northern MI when I return. It's nice to know we are both looking forward to.

What did you do for/with your family/wife before you deployed?

Left her with tears in her eyes, and freshly fucked.

Came home to her with tears in her eyes, and freshly fucked.

Yup.