Shasta Groene appeared to be well-adjusted and healthy after her ordeal last May, when a man killed Slade, their mother and a family friend in the family's Coeur d'Alene home. Police said the suspect, convicted sex offender Joseph Duncan, then took Shasta and her brother Dylan, who was killed and buried in the Montana wilderness.

Family members put messages to Slade in balloons and released them in Coeur d'Alene on Wednesday.

"I think we're just here to just celebrate his birthday," Shasta said.

She is getting all A's and one C in school and just got back from a spring break vacation.

"We've been going on vacation; we've been ... just hanging out," she said.

Joseph Duncan is awaiting trial on a number of charges related to the crimes.