Well, thank you for taking the time to look at them!
"The only thing I would do is cover the plastic with straw."
Great suggestion ... and I intend to this year. The fabric that I used was heavy enough to be used for more than one year but, unfortunately, since I didn't cover it the sun broke it down pretty badly (in addition to the foot traffic). I have access to pine straw which I could collect and we always have hay for livestock. I know that hay is a no-no because of the weed seeds ... but do you think it would be okay since the fabric would keep the seeds from reaching the soil and germinating? (probably not) I could get regular straw with not much expense though.
Yep. I’d use straw over hay because of the seed problems.