Updated iPad to ios7, now it says if I open spreadsheet in Numbers I won't be able to sync to Mac until upgrade to Mavericks

Question

Updated iPad mini to iOS 7.
I had purchased Pages & Keynote & then later purchased Numbers also on the iPad so I could keep a file synced w my Mac, now that I'm doing more & more on the iPad mini so not using the Mac all the time.
I was dismayed to get a message when I tried to open a contact file that I use to keep track of biz prospects that said if I opened it, I would Jo longer be able to keep it synced w the version on the Mac until I updated to Maverick. This caught me totally by suprise. If I had had even a hint that ths would happen, I would have held off updating to iOS 7 on the iPad mini. (Which I'm typing on now)
Is there any way around this? I do use Time Machine to keep my Mac backed up regularly.
Have the bugs been worked out of Mavericks?
I've read that the iWork's apps & maybe some others have been dumbed down to make the sync work so some features are lost.
Does most apps work fine w Mavericks? I guess I should check to make sure that Parallels 8 works w it. Don't use it much any more, but do have Windows 7 as a virtual machine. I'd like to retain that w out having to pay to upgrade as I just upgraded not that long ago.
Also do the apps work ok & sync well if using iOS 7 on iPad & Mavericks on MacBookPro (mid 2012 model--although purchased May 2013).
Back in May, I also moved to Portland, OR not realizing there is only 1 Apple store inconveniently located downtown. It also doesn't seem to have as full offering of classes as the store in Tigard which are further away. Before moving, I had 2 Apple stores w in.  10-15 min drive. & I used zone to One for 3 years. I purchased it again just before my move after spilling water on my old MacBookPro & ending up buying a new one. But haven't even activated it yet.  But thinking of looking into ging to an apple store to get help.

Answer 1

OK, I decided to upgrade to Mavericks. 1st I checked to see if Parallels 8 woudl work w it. It said yes, but upgrade parallels 8 1st so I did that (& then realized I should update virus def & run Windows updates also. Don't use it very much  180 days ago it said).
Then saw some reports of mail not working so well so decided to clean out a lot of un-needed emails on my Mac. Also ran updates to Mountain Lion.
Then closed everything & shut down. Left it off for a few min to clear out any left over electronic garbage & rebooted. Opened App store & clicked the Mavericks free download. Almost immediated it gave me error message & suggested doing it from the Purchased section.
Ok, I tried downloading it there. 2-3 times got same almost immediate error message.
Then, I think it was after disconnecting external HD & printer I tried again & it was looking good w download. It was fluctuating between 40-45 min time remaining & showing almost 500 mb downloaded when I got the error message again.
btw, I also got an error message when running Windows update. There was an unknown error code when I tried updating Service Pack 1 (which it showed I needed, although I'm thinking that is kind of strange since I've had Windows 7 on a MacBookPro since shortly after I bought the original MacBookPro in April 2010. (Spilled water on it last May & Apple store said it would need expensive repair so bought this replacement that they used my Time Machine backups to install everything on. This was right as I was getting ready to move & I haven't yet found the old one to see if maybe it would work. It should be in one of my boxes).
So, if it is having this much trouble just getting it installed I'm kind of afraid to go ahead. Wondering why some report it works fine & a lot of others saying no.
I very frustrated since I just want to be able to have the functionality I had to be able to sync Numbers between my iPad & my Mac.